Jamie's Big Voice

digital media

2010-07-06T02:23:00.003+01:00

Now here's a subject the repeal of the law on downloading media.

What the last administration did was to rush through a law that wasn't properly thought out and it makes civil liberties look obsolete. Lets look at it another way. Lets say you have a CD that you brought from a shop. Your friend wants to borrow it. I do believe under the present law of copyright you are breaking the law and if I am reading things right if your friend goes ahead and copies it then he's definitely doing so.

You brought the CD legally and if so, Then that CD is your's and what's on the CD is also your's and if you are good to your friends you lend it to them. Now that is your choice because it belongs to you to do as you please. It's the same with the internet friends swap music and movies but like myself I sometimes download something I am not supposed to. I am not the only one. The thing is I pay a site so I can download but am now told this is illegal. So what is the solution. I for one would buy my movies and music if they they were cheaper. £7 for a new DVD is reasonable and the lower the price the more you sell. If these companies are so interested in profit then why not start there own download site where and music could be download at a reasonable price. but to stop people having the choice and restrictions on what they can do on the internet takes away freedom of choices and does infringe deeply on civil liberties. Any way that's what I think. I hope this makes sense as it's three in the morning and once again sleep eludes me.

It's all our fault

2010-06-22T02:54:00.004+01:00

Well, it had to happen I'm dead and this is hell or is it the other way round anyway who cares we have now got ourselves in a right pickle with this collision government. They plan to up taxes, reduce benefits, cut spending. Yet a couple of minutes ago they were fiddling expenses and now they want the poor to be poorer. Here's what i think will happen. They will make their cuts and everyone will suffer more than they have to. Inflation will rise so will unemployment. Banks will still be giving bonuses.House prices will fall to an all time low. and food price will rise with the cost of living. This will cause the people of Britain to say enough is enough and bring the collision to an end because we did not vote for it and it doesn't work. how can it when you now have lib dems going back on what they pledged in the their election manifesto. We voted for no one because we'd run out of trust and they are proving us so right..Did Cameron just become prime minister because it was the only way his party could get into power and he just likes the idea of being prime minister will he bring us back to those dreaded thatcher years of strikes and more poverty, no housing. We shall see. So once again I ask am I in hell? or is this all a dream

Funny thing is

2010-03-10T08:53:00.003Z

I have often wondered what it takes to become a politician but I have always come up with the same answer and that's not much. The funny thing is that I think you have to have the gift of the gab and to be able to spin things the way you want to. In other words tell fibs, big white lies. Take for instant education. We used to have one of the best education systems in the world and now we are somewhere near the bottom of the world ratings. Who was it that f--c-ed it all up with this modernisation crap. Same applies to our health service. Who the hell gave us the right to steal a child childhood because that's what I think is happening as we lower the age for pre school and give them all these tests and then try to get parents into work at the same time. It seems to me that the government wants it cake and wants to eat it all. Are we as a broken society? if we are isn't it about time we said enough is enough. The funny thing is we'll just keep on electing governments that actually don't do anything.

Oh boy

2010-03-01T22:36:00.002Z

Oh boy what a palaver about the election I thought this was an easy choice because if you look at what has been done and what would have been done by you know who. Then its obvious. We all disagreed with brown giving our money to the banks but if you think about it, it has saved most of our saving and has prevented a total collapse of our banks but it it has brought hardship and that's just the thing. if the conservatives had had their way they would have closed the worst failing banks and nationalized the rest. Which would have meant millions would have lost their saving pensions would have been decreased more than they have been and many more would have become redundant and many many more businesses would have gone under. After thinking about things I have come to this conclusion I would Rather have the devil I know in power but what do I know. I still believe the old system of paying water and all those other rates with your rent would work better today than what we have now.

Good news and as usual bad news

2010-02-07T18:51:00.002Z

Good news is I didn't lose my pride and joy, my dvd recorder because by some miracle and luck I managed to keep it and buy a hole fortnights food. The reason well I found one pound fifty and I brought a loaf and bread and a pint of milk. I had sixty pence left so I thought lets have a bet on a horse so I did and that won at 10\1 which gave me £6.60 and placed the oringinal 60p on a straight forcast which means I had to pick the first and second that came in and I got £53.25. I kept the £56 and played with £3.25 and would you believe it I won again this time it was £37 exaclty. I then walked out and brought two weeks food which I didn't really need and got my dvd recorder out of hock. so luck was with me after all or someone up there likes me.
Now for the bad news I read all the papers and things on homelessness and sometimes I just can't believe some councils and what they are saying and doing. Homelessness isn't a crime but I know of people being given asbo's for sleeping in shop doorways this does confuse me as we know there are not enough places for all the homeless in london. Even church night shelters have had to turn away people at night. The thing that amazes me is that we say homelessness is decreasing but in actual fact it is not and from what I see its going into hiding. We no longer see people in plain sight. Homelessness is now becoming hidden and this must not happen as these are the people we have to try and help as best we can.

Life it's fun but what a struggle

2010-02-03T22:46:00.005Z

What can I say? Everyday I wake and pray for just an average day of near normality but as we all know sometimes life just throws a spanner in the works. First it was my health and a dizzy doctor, who I now think was using some kind of hallucinogenic drug because no doc could have been that bad. Now my health has finally got back to some kind of normality but as I said there's always something else. It is partly my own fault but now I'm struggling with my bills which I have got partly sorted but it has cost me. I thought I could pawn my pride and joy. My DVD recorder. It was a way to pay what I owed and get it back with in the allotted time which was a month but things have now conspired against me and I am about to lose my prize possession which I have not finished paying for but I do have a week to think of something. The good things are my gas and electric is still on thanks to my DVD. I have food in my freezer and I'm lucky I don't have to sleep out in the rain anymore. It's a pity life can't be a little easier after all I have done the hard part by surviving all those misspent years of homelessness and drugs. Praying for just a little reward, do you think that's asking too much?
I think life is full of unequal events but sometimes good things do happen more often than not.

This what I think

2010-01-25T18:51:00.003Z

Over the last twenty to thirty years I have been what I call asleep due to the amount of drugs I took over the years and now I am awake and yet even I see the changes made in our so called fair society. My first observation is about our children and they way we slowly erode their childhood by changing learning ages. the test they have to take. I begin to wonder is it worth it? I see a child learning to play with other children as the first steps of learning how to get on together. There are rungs on a ladder. Sometimes some children can take two rungs at a time but for most its one at a time. What I am saying is give back children their childhood and just maybe children wont be so cruel and resentful. It's to late for todays children but they say a happy child is a fruitful child I think.
We say the rich get richer. Now even I have to admit this one. They do, but don't most earn it and is this true are they paying higher taxes than most? We have this saying hard earned money will be well spent. I think this to be true. Look life isn't that fair to most, it has its ups and downs but money isn't everything and being jealous of someone owning a porche hey! that's just natural but being happy with what you have is harder than most people think. Ask someone who fought in the war or who was born just after or just ask someone from a really poor country. Poor is a word I'd use for people who have next to nothing but poverty is a word for poeple who have nothing. Poverty will be with our world for many years to come and many peoples life times but as we give to help when we can. We can smile a little and know that all is not lost and humanity does live somewhere in us all.

Recovering blogger

2010-01-08T01:06:00.006Z

Well. my bit for charity wasn't done exactly as I planned because I caught a tartar of a cold and couldn't do all my shifts. I haven't been out of my flat since, today was the first day. It was strange no one was walking or chating in the streets all were skating or trying to stay up right. Pensioners with zimmer frames were even speed skating. Cars were doing the bolero. So this I am guessing is the long term effects of blogging or snow and I thought I was having a bloggers flash back. Since I stopped writing so much I wondered why I've kept on seeing things. Silly me, today I thought I saw Boris Johnson on TV saying once again that London was prepared for snow and there wouldn't be any disruptions and I could have sworn I saw snow this morning when I went to the shop and no buses but seriously. What I didn't hear was the struggle about families who could not heat there homes during this prolonged freeze because they hadn't yet received any cold weather payments or that people on prepayment meters are using money put by for food because they have been promised payments which still are not forth coming. We are into the second week of the freeze and it seems this too has become a post code lottery. Isn't it suppose to be when the weather drops to zero or below that payments are made unless you live half a mile away in another post code. Cold weather payments are meant to be for weather that is cold not when the sun shines and at todays prices for gas and electric. Well they say it all. Another thing is there are people sleeping rough all around Britain there hasn't been a word said about them. Its so sad that we live in a country that's good at helping people all around the world and I am proud of that. Yet we haven't seen or invented ways to help our own. Britain has so many problems from homelessness to lawlessness but what is most annoying and does make me angry is that we have increasing poverty in this country and although we know and hear about it nothing is really done and I hate it when I am told, you should think yourself lucky because you'd be starving anywhere else in the world. I know how lucky I am but how long will it before we once again see children begging openly in the streets or how long will it be when we see American style soup kitchens? It doesn't take much to become homeless and poor but it takes plenty of lives and life to remedy it

Hey I'm a recover blogger what do I know?

Christmas

2009-12-20T12:32:00.002Z

I was thinking about Christmas and the phrase home for Christmas. I know that some people do have homes and family to go to at this time of year but what about those who have nothing and no one. I have heard some people as I walk the streets at night say its their own fault that they are where they are and I now ask the question how the hell do they know. Do they personally know the people? I don't think so but you never know because every now and then someone knows someone on the streets and if you remember it is a small world we live in and to be honest England is not that big really. I myself have had what I would have called various homes. One was a card board box in what was called the bull ring in waterloo. Another was just a blanket in a shop doorway in London’s West End. the list goes on. You might think how can this be called home but that is what it was, plus the only family I knew at the time was other people on the streets in the same situation. Now I smile a little more as I look around my flat and I see a three seater settee and two arm chairs, a TV and so forth but this is now my home but every now and then I visit the streets at night and remember this is what it was like but I remember that not everyday was gloom and doom.

A true story

2009-12-18T09:11:00.002Z

Many years ago I fell into a hole and broke my leg and smashed my knee but today I see the funny side of life and so I wrote this I wrote something similar a few years ago but lost it so I thought it's coming up to Christmas and it's a time for fun

The hole

It was black

It was big and round

It was sort of deep

Yet there it was upon the ground

Something you could not miss

But me being me

After a few and remember not a drop of tea

In I fell

I did not dive or somersault

Just screamed what the hell

Then I was gone

Into this hole

That was big and round and sort of deep

That all could see

Something you could not miss

Except me

THERE IS A POINT WE DON'T SEE EVERYTHING EVEN IF WE ARE STARING AT IT.

New day new dawn

2009-12-18T07:53:00.002Z

Well it's only a few more days until Christmas and I still wonder sometimes what would I be doing if I hadn't changed my life so dramatically so many Christmases ago. When I go out on the streets at night I sometimes stop at places I used to frequent and think about things and sometimes remember what happened here but I've learned that you can't change the past, it's just gone. You can only have regrets and these you don't have to dwell on because everyday life changes. I wake to a new day free of drugs and thoughts I never knew I had. Have to admit some are really personal. One thought I had was that many well known MP s are signed up to the end homeless by 2012 campaign. How about actual homeless people signing up as well after all two heads are better than one and aren't homeless people the ones that matter. The way I see it if you get everyone doing there thing to end homelessness then this gives it more power and instead of the words unlock your potential. Lets always use the words lets us help you reach your goal because that's what it's all about two bodies working for the samething but it says a lot more if your saying we want to help. Not that's we don't know it but as they say words are more powerful than sword after all so many have started wars.

Me being profound

2009-11-27T04:51:00.003Z

I was thinking once again which is not unusual these days. It seems to me that everyone in the world asks for that one big miracle at least once in a lifetime it might be to win the lottery or get a new car or just something simple like losing your childhood spots but what we don't realize that life is full of little miracles which we don't really notice. Its funny but it was just a thought I had.

a poem of christmas

2009-11-26T11:04:00.001Z

Every Christmas everyone one sighs

That unexpected Christmas happiness sigh

Some get over cheerful

Some get very very playful

Some just sit, smile and cry

There are many reasons why

It could be long lost loves remembered

Tinged with happiness and the smallest of regret

Yet that first Christmas kiss you just remembered

And that gentle smile of yesterday

Comes once again to play

Then you look around

And so that Christmas sigh and smile

It reappears

As Christmas brings it seasons cheers

What can I say

2009-11-25T14:33:00.006Z

When I write I try to write about what I know sometimes adding a bit of humor but even I know life is sometimes severe and cutting. So what I want to do is use some of your imagination. Just closed your eyes and imagine your homeless and haven't got a penny in your pocket, its raining and you are soaked. Now add to that you don't have a drink that you have to have everyday because you are a alcoholic. How do you feel?

Nothing can change that feeling of hopelessness.

This is what happens 365 days a year to most homeless people and it's OK for charities like crisis to say help the homeless help themselves but it always comes down to the fact that without a stable base the chances of someone getting their life in order is minimal. I know I did but I am one of the few. how many times did I really try? Not that many I did try a few times but as they say I was not ready for change. Don't get me wrong crisis is one of my favorite charities but I sometimes wonder if they are losing site of the bigger picture and that is homelessness its self. Even I have heard the mumbling and whispers about people living in hostels and its clear people still think of them as not being homeless. I would love to hear from MP s with their own thoughts on this subject. Not their party line but their own thoughts but I think thats doubtful.

Christmas is a few weeks away and we will hear about homeless more at this time of year. My own story has been heard many times but I am glad to say my life changed for the good and is still changing daily. Best of all is I am still alive and kicking.

Sitting and wondering about Christmas

2009-11-24T03:43:00.004Z

I was just sitting watching TV with a friend who never stops crying at Christmas films my flat is sure to cause flooding on a major scale but to get to the point, there I was sitting and I just got this thought what is Christmas and what does it truly mean. We have the church saying it's the day Christ was born. We have another saying its just one day each year of peace and love. So I began to think about what Christmas means to the homeless. When I was on the streets I used to beg for whatever I needed because I couldn't shoplift anymore drugs had got the better of me and I was in an awful state, not that it stopped me but I just kept getting caught. Just before every Christmas when begging I used to look forward to the people who had the Christmas spirit and gave five pounds plus which made them smile and me. I never went to the shelters for Xmas because they were too crowded and I wasn't ready to admit I was lost and I'd lost my personal battle with drugs. So to me back then Christmas was a time for having that little extra and a smile. There was nothing else to look forward to. After Christmas things would be just the same. It wasn't until I got straight that I realized that Christmas is the one day of the year that a strange kind of perfect love for everyone and everything somehow manifest its self. why? Who knows? Maybe it is the day Christ was born or maybe it's the only day we as human being see we can be so much more than we are? Maybe its just the one day of the year we get to be just what you see?

Me and my little voice

2009-11-13T12:05:00.007Z

My voice has been quiet of late because there has been nothing to say except the same old boring thing called homelessness. I sometimes think whats the use, the government seem to convince people that its a thing of the past and the people in the street are so used to seeing people sleeping on the streets its become part of everyday life. Are we becoming immune to the fact that there is still a big problem? I've had my ups and downs over the last few years but I am still here living and breathing but a few of the people I knew on the streets are not. So when I hear some MP saying we are getting to grips with the problems of homelessness and its problems I get angry but I am only one little voice. Its loud but sometimes I feel its not loud enough. homelessness is a big problem and with it brings all the problems that you can't imagine, drugs, alcoholism. violence and abuse and sometimes prostitution. So if my voice is quiet now, wait till you hear me properly.

Chances

2009-11-07T01:21:00.002Z

How many chances does one need was the question ? that was the question asked, my automatic reply was as many as it takes but now I'm at home and I'm thinking about the people that will not take the chances given because they figure they are on their way out anyway or to put it another way they have given up and just want to be left alone. If we are truthful we have slightly given up on them too because its too hard and too tiring to do the same thing day after day although we keep on trying. The repeated failure gets to us too and we just go through the motions What can we do to change this? I don't think there is much we can do but too keep on trying but what I would love to see is what I call the last stop. It's a last stop place for hard and heavy drinkers to be. It takes them off the streets and keeps them safe and warm and to have someone on the premises 24hrs a day. Someone who does not judge and is there to help in anyway. I think they do have something like this in Scotland it's where drinkers spend there last days. Why am I writing this well I am so sad and fed up with going to funerals of people I know and some are paupers funerals. They spent their lives with nothing and no one and they die with nothing and no one . It doesn't seem fair

Once again thinking clear

2009-10-20T08:56:00.002+01:00

I'm not the kind of man to give up on things that easy after all the things I've been through in my life I know it makes me who I am. I have not been myself for quite a few months ( I wondered sometimes who I was) It's taken me longer than I thought it would to be just me again but as the saying goes you can't keep a good man down for long and I am back in reasonable health so for the first clear thought of the day. After listening to the party conferences it seems to me that none have said what they are going to do for those that are living in poverty or for that matter the homeless which is still thriving week in and week out. The number steadily is increasing. from what I can gather is they now want to build more hostel like places for teenagers who are expecting or with children because they want to teach parenting but my question is who ever gets parenting right because as i understand it we are all different. We can't house the homeless we already have so how are we going to house these teenagers. Now don't get me started about Boris Johnson because he promised to keep fares down and to make changes and he hasn't done a thing. he's had all these meeting and spent lots of money on researching various things like policing, housing and transport and hasn't really done a thing worth while. Now for my favorite why do we stand for governments that continually let us down? It's mind boggling. I do understand why this government had to save the banks but am I right in thinking the banks should have been part nationalized as its the tax payer that seems to be losing out and would the government have gotten a better return for the peoples money?

just thinking

2009-10-02T01:03:00.000+01:00

Thinking of things to say isn’t that hard for me as I have been used to talking my way through things for years especially hiding the fact that I couldn’t read or write but now I can. The thing is none of this would have been possible if people didn’t care. Over the last few months I haven’t been myself but I am now back to my old self but the problem is even though I am back the homeless problem is still here. Poverty is on the increase and the most venerable in our society are still slowly suffering. I was listening to the party conference for labour and liberals. To tell the truth times are going to get tougher but under the conservatives I think they will get much much tougher. I know that cuts have to come but what they are going to do just doesn’t add up. It means higher taxes. Vat, people paying much more national insurance contributions. What I want to know is are there any plans for the thousands stuck in hostels or are there any plans for those on the streets that can't get into hostels or are they going to cut spending even further in that area to.

Revenge of a doughnut

2009-09-06T00:33:00.004+01:00

It's Monday and I am a fresh baked doughnut. I used to have five friends in a bag. We were the doughnut gang but they have now all been eaten by this monster of a man and it looks as if I am going the same way but I wasn't expecting it to be so quick. Now between you and me. My friends and I will have the last laugh because we have made him slightly obese already and we have become a daily habit because we add jam, sugar, apple, custard, raisins we also come in rings and are sometimes big and fat. we also come nice and crispy plus the fact that if we cooked really good one is not enough.
As you can probably gather I have stopped eating doughnuts and its made me nuts

2009-09-03T22:34:00.003+01:00

Days go by when you actually get to hear good news but most of the time is spent watching and listening to TV and radio and all the bad news from around the world. It does seem that we are very lucky in Britain although there is a certain element in our society intent on violence. If you think of things in other ways. we do have it better than most. Take the in the states for instance if you have no health insurance you are unlikely to get the medical help you need. You can get lost amongst the million or so homeless also If you're living in parts of the third world you are more likely to die of starvation and disease. So when I go out some nights to see how the homeless in this country are getting on I sometimes stand in the background and watch the people that are handing out and taking the sandwiches. I often wonder if they know how lucky they really are.

Just living

2009-08-29T11:30:00.006+01:00

Am I living or am I just going through the motions to what seems some semblance of a life. Living in my own home it's different and I've been doing it for some while now but there's still something missing. Maybe it the daily struggle which you get used to when your living on the streets or maybe it's being with people who are just like you who have nothing and don't pretend to have. Maybe its hearing those different voices day in day out but whatever it is, living on your own in your own flat it is very different. Take me for instance for many years I lived on and off the streets sometimes in prison, Sometimes in swats and sometimes in hostels who by the way always seemed to come up with Mr McCoy you haven't paid any rent so you will have to leave. Being a drug addict causes these lapses in ones memory and getting high everyday does that. The fact is drug came first before rent, food, cloths or family but those days are gone. Now it's just me and my inner voice trying to be the best that I can be and believe me when I say that's not hard as everyday used to be what can I get today but these days I'm into the quiet life but every now and then I will spend a few days out there on the streets or get blind o drunk at home and that's not hard for me as I hate drink but I am still asking the question is this living or just going through the motions.
Maybe I'll wake up and find out it's all been a dream and I'm really only 20 and it's all been a nightmare or maybe this is hell and I really died years ago and this is my punishment because Gordon Brown really being the prime minister only the devil could have come up with that one.

I called this recycling

2009-08-27T12:11:00.003+01:00

My father who taught me the tricks of the trade and when I got older
Two kids and a wife who constantly moaned was how I was paid
So I recycled the wife for someone to keep
But alas no came
So I killed her and buried her deep
Now I’m not one to bear grudges
Well, not for awhile
You got to admit I do things in style
Now my kids are now all grown and all have left home
But now I’m haunted by all the things that I've done
And the ghost of my wife who nags me and annoys me for fun
So it would have been best If I’d not laid her to rest
Now the thing is
I strongly believe divorce would have been best
So if you’re thinking about getting rid of you’re wife
Don’t do what I did it could ruin your life.
Now this is a tale of a love that did fail
But just in case you are tempted like me
There are much better ways to set yourself free.
Recycle its less hassle and much better fun.

I wrote this at Christmas but since then it's changed quite a bit but putting fun into something tragic was at one time hard for me as most of my life has been either on the streets a drug user or struggling to survive the pit falls of life living rough.

Do I believe?

2009-08-26T09:32:00.003+01:00

Do I believe everything the government says or what Gordon Brown or David Cameron hinted at. So far this year all I have heard is the blame game but if you look at things and weigh them up in your mind sensible people will come to sensible conclusions.
The next general election is just round the corner. Right at this minute it looks like a conservative win but wait lets look back and see what happened last time a conservative government lead us. Strikes, oh they banned them, poverty? it rose, houses where built? Not exactly the ones we already had were sold off and of course we went to war in the Falklands. Lets not forget history was made we had the first woman president, sorry prime minister. So what does this tell me? Well lets see this government bailed out the banks to the tune of billions but was it their doing in the first place that lead to the banks failing? Oh yes they sold our gold reserves at a loss. Oh and over the next ten to twenty years we will be paying more tax and enough much needed housing won't be built. Unemployment will rise even further. Poverty will still be around. Tomorrow I will hear MPs saying vote for me things will change but on a good note homeless people can vote

Not saying much

2009-08-25T13:48:00.003+01:00

These days are rather quiet and peaceful for me but I have just spent a few days sleeping rough like I did in the old days but this time it had a purpose. I wanted to see how hard it has become to survive here in London now street services have been dramatically reduce. These days its hard enough to stay in the flats or houses we already have and with the government slow to build social housing I wanted to find out have new rules on benefits made it harder for homeless people to survive on the streets. There does seem to be a growth in homelessness but every summer London sees an influx of people from other parts of the country. What I did notice was lots of new young faces and some old faces back on the streets after being taken off the streets. I have to admit sleeping rough was a bit hard for me as I have become used to my bed and being able to watch tv when I wanted and of course having my coffee and doughnuts.
The thing that did stand out was that homeless people are really struggling to survive and as the government tighten its grip on the welfare state. I have begun to wonder if we are taking giant steps backward and have another underworld of vice showing its ugly head. The fact is as the government try to reduce its spending and tighten its belt people are going to suffer and it does seem to me that it's the people that really need the help that are going to suffer most.

Awake and raring to go

2009-07-19T06:18:00.002+01:00

Well, it's been a long time coming but I think normality has returned. It's 6 15 in the morning I'm awake and ready to go for my morning run and within the next few weeks or so get rid of my fat stomach that has built up over the last few years. I have already got rid of the junk for food that was in my freezer and got fresh veg and meats, not keen on the fruit though. It's the exercise that's the problem because being one of the laziest guys in Britain and I do have some bad habits and exercise is the last thing I want to do but I know I have to. Just by luck I found these steep steps and just like in the rocky film I have been running up and down them for couple of days now, sad to say don't see any improvement but time will tell. well got to go as daylight is wasting

Homeless once again

2009-07-16T21:28:00.004+01:00

Oh well things just don't go to plan do they? You're thinking he's homeless again what happened? Nothing actually. I'm not but by the time I've finished this particular blog I could have been. That's how easy it could be for someone to become homeless by making one lousy decision in a few minutes and it could change the out come of someones life. I went out for a long walk today and I looked into the faces I came across and thought what would it be like for them if they suddenly became one of many homeless what would they do? That question doesn't really need answering because their survival instint would kick in just as mine did and the same as most living on the streets. The thing is the longer you stay on the streets the easier it is to survive but the social skills you once had eventually disappear so you do become dependent on your wits. So the person you once were disappears. Does this make you less than anybody else? It shouldn't but in some peoples eyes it does because they only see whats in front of them they do not know what has gone before.

2009-07-03T03:26:00.002+01:00

You see some of my poetry at http://poetmccoy.blogspot.com/ Its half past three in the morning and it too hot to sleep so I thought I would catch up with my blog even though I have nothing much to say.which most who know me will say is a miracle but I haven't watched the news for ages and have kept pretty quite. Tonight I am trying to write some more poetry and my book but nothing comes to mind so I will continue with the struggle

I wonder

2009-07-02T09:00:00.003+01:00

Everything changes but does it really? Over the last few months I have not been quite myself and I have had to slow down a bit which has given me time to ponder on life's little quirks. The conclusions I have come to are really not that amazing, just so obvious. I still wonder what would have happened to me if I had still been homeless and using drugs. What would I be doing now? Would I have died and be buried in a paupers grave? Are there better days to come? These questions would never have entered my head a couple of years ago. I still think not much has changed though. I still do some of the same things I did when I was homeless because old habits die hard and habits as most know are hard to break that's why I think I understand more than most the plight of homeless people after they have a home. getting A flat or some kind of accommodation is only part of the battle. The battle to break the habit of homelessness it's self is the toughest. It doesn't matter how good you are at keeping a flat clean and tidy or that you have food. It's this thing that the streets brings you I suppose you could call it the survival instinct you don't want to lose it so you keep going back to the streets because that's what you know so well. Just a few of my own thoughts and I wonder am I right?

The Honorable

2009-06-01T11:47:00.003+01:00

Am I right when I think that when MPs are in the houses of parliament that the speaker calls them the right honorable whoever it is from such a place. The question I wanted to ask after the expenses row was. was it the honorable thing for for so many MPs to do. I as a member of the public just didn't want to hear we did nothing wrong because it was in the rules. What I wanted to hear was that it wasn't the honorable thing to do and apologise. We trust our MPs to be beyond reproach and it doesn't matter what their back ground or where they come from but when it comes to decisions we trust them to do whats right for this country not just themselves. That's where I think the trouble lies We have lost this sense of morality. The Labour party talk about respect as well as the other parties but should they sit down at a party conference and sort out their own houses first before they try to teach the public about their respect agendas because from where I'm sitting the trust in MPs we once had has been tarnished really badly and its going to take something special to get it back fully. It's a bit like the kid who never did anything wrong saying it wasn't me I didn't steal the cakes but is later found out and the trust that everyone had has gone and it has to be earned. I just wanted to say my bit

Back to the issue of homelessness

2009-05-10T04:34:00.002+01:00

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything useful so I'll keep this short and simple. Many of you folk think homelessness is now less of an issue because you only see a few people sleeping rough or walking the streets late at night. The funny thing is there are still quite a number of homeless people and we don't see them because they now hide away at night, so they wont be woken up by police or anyone who will ask them to move on. The other thing is that homelessness is now a wider issue. It doesn't cover people just sleeping rough anymore. Now its about people who are stuck in hostels and hotels, sleeping on Friends floors and sofa's with no hope of having a place of their own.
Council housing was set up to house the people in greatest need. So where did it all go wrong and why ?
Why do we have families in this day and age without homes?
Why do the single homeless people still have to fight for the right to have a home?
Why is it nearly impossible to get an emergency bed for someone living on the streets?
Did we really become too dependent on the right to buy factor?
Is this why we stopped building social housing?
Have the government got it wrong once again?
Is there any real solutions to the housing problems we are facing?
These are the questions I am asking now I'm back to something like my old self.
I know I wont write as much but I will write about what's relevant

Still on about homelessness years later

2009-03-26T15:37:00.002Z

Since I became a member of the nearly normal society brigade. I have had several interviews and things concerning homelessness and every year it I am still writing the same old thing and still talking about ways to tackle homelessness. Strange as it might sound but it’s true. The question of homelessness is an unrelenting issue.
I now am asking has being homeless become a minor crime because it does seem to be as council after council try to stop people sleeping on the streets. I have to admit to the ingenious tactics they have used ( why can’t they use the same logic on the state of council estates} but until we all really admit that there is still a big problem, (which by the way is growing once again }It's estimated that approximately over a 800 people sleep rough on any given night right across Britain and that over 400 hundred thousand sleep in temporary accommodation such as friends sofa's, hostels and night shelters and so forth. Now the summer is nearly here there aren't that many night shelters open and to be truthful some you wouldn’t put your dog in over night. It seems to me that over the last three or four years I have met MPs from various parties and they have all sat there and listened and asked questions but to be truthful nothing much seems to have been done. We have had the odd scheme that has run out of funding and we have had several schemes which have been too costly. It all comes down to money said one MP recently. At this present time and the climate we are now in we don't have that much money to spend and what we do spend on homelessness has been tried and tested. We can see a results for what we spend. I have been thinking about this statement for quite a while now and I have come to this conclusion, The results that this or any government see seems to me to be about the same. one year the figures may be slightly down or static and the next slightly improved and of course we hear about this because any government worth its salt would say things are improving. Even I have to admit that compared with the homeless number ten to twelve years ago there has been a dramatic drop but things speak for themselves and the steady rise we are seeing all over the country needs to be addressed especially when you find people sleeping rough out of site of the public. These are the people that need to be included in any government statistic. I also heard that the rise in homelessness is due to the population rise of E.U immigrants looking for work. I know we say we are looking for new ways to end homelessness by twenty twelve but I really do think this is one target that cannot be reached. Homelessness has been with us through the ages as history shows us. Yes it is time to end it for good but with poverty increasing how do we do this? Do we hide it while the Olympics are here or do we say yes we have a problem just like any other country and we are tackling it and we will and can.
I know in the past we have tried work houses as history tells us. Today they are called hostels but its not the brutal regime of the past. It has now become the place where you are ina static posution. Limbo if you like.. Where you have hope that things can move on from here. There is one thing that applies to the past and today situations and that is once you’re in the homeless system its hard to escape. Coming from me that might seem funny as I now have my own flat and live quite a reasonable life. Which is what I would like to see all over the country but what I have now took me nearly a life time to get because no one really knew how to tackle the problems I had and there are so many out there that don't have as long as I have had.
Learning more about homelessness and it's true affects on people.
The root causes of homeless and how to break the cycle and habits of homelessness I think just the tip of the iceberg. The problem is that once you’re in the cycle of homelessness and have been there for quite sometime integrating a person back into society is harder than it sounds. Its about giving a person back there self worth and belief. Yes they have to be taught the skills needed to get back to work and so forth but the real problem is that addicts who have been so comforted by the bottle and drugs has been a crutch and taking away that crutch leaves them nothing. Homelessness has that same addictive quality this is why i believe we have a constant flow of people becoming homeless over and over again. This is where I still believe that former homeless people and addicts are the key to getting things right. But at this moment the main obstacle to this all is the Governments Quick fix target of twenty twelve. Everyone knows that putting a plaster on a wound before cleaning it leads to trouble. Is this government just putting a plaster on so you when the Olympics finally do arrive no one watching it on TV will see the homeless person sitting in a sleeping bag While the marathon is being run?

Not saying much these days

2009-03-09T14:38:00.003Z

I don't write that much these days but there are times I do have moments of bright clarity and think to myself why the hell am I still writing about homelessness in 2009. Well to put it simply we still have a homelessness problem all over this country and as the government introduce all kinds of initiatives to combat the problem I believe we are falling short. Now I listen to the news and I always keep an open mind when I hear things on homelessness. The thing is I have been there on those streets and I can tell you once you get there its hard to get away from them. They say that abuse and family break up are causes of homelessness and it is true but I also believe the shame of poverty is one of the greatest causes of people sleeping rough today because they made a mistake in thinking there was a better life in another new town and things would be so different, its that new place fresh start thing. So off they go with a suitcase full of dreams and a few quid in there pocket and for some they have just what the stand in. Before they know whats happened to their new life it's the old one but in a much much worse way because now they have a huge drink and drug problem and are surrounded by friends in the same situation and most of them came looking for something better. They all were also so full of hope that that hope now lays dormant sometimes never coming back. The question is what is the solution to the problem? Well I think it starts where many people came from and to create some kind of help at the starting point. Preventing it is herder that it seems. Everything has to start somewhere. We all know what the end result if we don't think and act quickly enough. Its fine giving people all these skills but if the underlying cause to thier problems aren't solved its juat a waste. How's that for clarity?

What next

2009-02-06T11:38:00.005Z

I've been talking to a few people where I live and I asked about the cold weather and how they were coping and I was told in no uncertain terms that these were the hardest times for many years. What with the price of gas and electric and so many people now not working and the fact that four people told me they were on benefits and had only one payment off the cold weather payment payed by the dss and job seekers. Now I know that this should be payed if the cold drops to zero or the average temp over seven days is zero or below. So I tried to ask the dss directly if this was true as the average temp during the end of dec to end of jan was zero with only two days in that time reaching plus three but I had no luck as they said they could not comment. So my next plan of action was to ask an MP but as you know it snowed and i am left with a sore bum and red face as i slipped and nearly broke my leg. I will get round to it as soon as I can. Other things on my mind are, Are the government and MPs from other parties so out of touch with the people that they now are thinking up quick fix policies? I for one think they are and I can't help but think what will they think of next. Will it be send all drug addict to the moon or there will be a national charge to use your local parks? Who knows? What I do know is that this is not a reccession it's the beginning of a depression if you look back in history both here and America there are so many things that are the same. anyway that's what I think but who cares what I think anyway.

Its time

2009-01-30T14:47:00.004Z

Well I might not be myself these days but I still listen to the news and make my own mind up about things for instance this thing about the banks and the doom and gloom that has followed them about. well here's my take on this issue, banks have been so stupid yet in the process have made a few more people rich and what we used to call the middle class are now much better off and the poor are now poorer. This only partly due to the banks. They sold loans and things to unsafe people and project but this was partly due to the government as well making people believe that owning their own home was the bees knees and the thing to do and the government kept on and on about this being the way forward so banks followed suit the result is what we have now. We have partly nationalised the banks why not go the full hog and get things moving by making them lend to business

You don't have any ties so please take up your bed and leave

2008-12-30T01:54:00.007Z

I thought I'd write one last piece for this year about oxford council asking it's the homeless to leave if they couldn't prove that they had any ties to oxford. This is getting ridiculous as homeless people are fast becoming the easy targets of councils all over the country and I do believe what they are now doing is bordering on being illegal. The question is are they taking away ones right to live where they can and choose. Does any council have legal jurisdiction over any ones rights? Its a bit like saying sorry there's no room at the inn but its happening all over England. Another thing is that if the government figures are to be believed a third of the rough sleepers in England are in Oxford.These must be all the above intelligent ones who are now getting university degrees. I wonder if the others are at Cambridge doing the same? As today I heard Cambridge was better than Oxford

What's in store

2008-12-30T01:03:00.006Z

Well another year nearly over and to be truthful it hasn't been a very fruitful one for me as things have happened that have had me rather concerned about my health but everything is okay and 2009 should be a good year in fact I think it will a vintage one this time round. I aim to get the answers to the nagging questions that need to be answered like have we really lost the art of conversation and what do people think the reason for this. Another is about homelessness and are certain charities including my favorite and beloved Crisis moving a way from the real core of what they were all set up to help tackle and that is the homeless, are they in their drive to improve leaving behind the most vulnerable and have we in fact gone to a two tier of homelessness of those who can and those who can't. I hope to be doing some more radio stuff next year as I very much want to ask the question of whats going to happen if the economy doesn't recover. What's in store the homeless and is reforming the welfare and benefit system the correct thing to do at this time or is it just another way for the government to give with one hand and take with the other. Will we see a dramatic rise in homelessness as house repossessions continue to rise as the sticking plaster which the government has in place fails to do its job. All good questions to ask. So as this year ends on a bit bum note. Lets hope for a better one. See you all in the New Year. Have a great new years eve. Here's a question would I make a good MP as I have a back ground of avoiding burning questions and I can make promises that I know I wont keep

Homelessness

2008-12-28T03:55:00.005Z

Homelessness is not just a thing that happens at Christmas although sometimes it does feel as if it is. The fact is that at Christmas we see a small proportion of what homelessness is and we learn more about how it affects some of those that are homeless. Its such a shame that it is the only time of year when everyone talks about the subject and we feel everyone should be given at least a small glimmer of hope. The fact that there are some people that actually do care and offer their time shows that some people do empathise but what does happens after places like the Crisis Christmas shelter in London or all the other places that are open, close. Most go back to life of living on the streets because there is no choice although there are housing advice places in the shelters the chance of getting someone in one is slim but its not through the lack of trying. There are still not enough vacancies to tackle the problem which is set to rise even further.
How do you tackle homelessness? No one yet has come up with a definite solution. The sorry fact that it has become more hidden is I think is a growing problem because we now have people sleeping at the back of shops and such places. Where as before it used to be in plain site suggests that I am right but I do speak from experience myself as I have been homeless and a drug addict. The fact that Crisis has taken a bold intuitive in trying to develop peoples skills in their skylight drop in centers in London at Newcastle is a step in the right direct but more needs to be done on the issue of homelessness itself because no matter what, no employer will take the chance of employing someone who lives on the street. Yes its that old vicious circle again once you're in it its hard to get back on the straight and narrow. With this recession starting to bite and as more and more people become victim to the housing market slump and many losing their jobs and homes. I once again see the migration of workers going to different towns in search of work. Which has happened before in this country and was in itself a cause of one of the biggest rises in homelessness in the seventies and eighties. I forecast that we will see the break down of families and a large rise in homelessness over the next two years and once again we will have a homeless crisis

What a laugh someone's having

2008-12-05T10:31:00.003Z

The queens opening speech for the new session of Parliament was a bit of a damp squid if you ask me. The government are doing nothing for the poorest of this country and I believe they made no great in roads into the housing crisis that has been building up for sometime now. No mention of rentable social housing or of building any. Someone is having a great belly laugh at our expense but the trouble is the Conservatives wont do much better if anything they'll make it harder. Politics, its a comedy in the making. This year I think we have seen the worst comedy of errors that any government has made since the war. We are in for tough times and I strongly believe that we haven't seen the worst of things to come. Who really knows what's in store for 2009 doom and more gloom but it's Christmas and I think we should make the best of it for now so many poeple will be drowning thier sorrows with a mixture of goodwill and tears. cheers to you all

a christmas poem

2008-12-02T10:58:00.002Z

After the year we've all just had.

This Christmas is the time we all should be kind of glad.

The credit crunch, the bombs, the war
I could go on some more.
Yet when I think of things to come.
And things we've left undone.
Like saying that I love you to ones that are so near and dear.
And to the child in misery say it's OK, I'll protect you and drive away your fear.
So lets make this Christmas a very special one.
Filled with love and cheer and loads and loads of fun
So I send to all the peace that all should be.
a happy Christmas from the man in red
and a very special one from me.

Geting too old

2008-12-02T10:50:00.002Z

For the first time in ages I didn't want to get out of bed but i did and immediately started shaking, not with the cold but anger as i picked up the mail and found more bills addressed to my friend who died a year ago and for the first time in ages i looked in the mirror and saw an aged man. So as i sat down with a cup of coffee. I started to think my god! where has time gone. the truth is time just went on it's merry way as it normally does and I never noticed. funny how things turn out in life. You never notice time until it's gone and you sart wishing you could get it back when you do.

Credit and more crunch

2008-11-25T10:26:00.003Z

As I See it the chancellor did nothing to get me out shopping for Christmas in fact all he did was make me worry about how I am going to pay my gas and electric bill as I am one of the growing 1. 7,000,000 unemployed. I get 240.00 a month and now a total of 75 goes on gas and electric and they still want more. Now the government wants me to get a job so now I have to fork out either 13 50 a week on bus fares or 5.20 a day on bus and tube travel. Lets go for the 13 50 week that's 54. 00 a month for searching and going to interviews. So that's half my money gone. Oh and don't for get I have to pay four pounds fifty a week water rates and 6.25 TV license. that leaves me with less than twenty pounds a week for food. So what has the chancellor done for me and many like me? So does it matter that he knocked two and a half per cent of vat because like many we already shop second hand. When we can afford to. It just hasn't dawned on anyone that poverty will be wider spread over the next year or so. Will we recover ? Who knows.

Second hand

2008-11-17T15:29:00.003Z

I met this fella on my nightly travels around the city of London. He was one of the people that travelled on the night buses. I'd seen him around some of the day centers so we got speaking about being homeless and when I told him I'd been homeless and was now living in my own flat he wished that he was me. Funny I never thought of anyone wanting to be me. I asked him how he became homeless and he said that he left home 12 years ago with nothing but a suitcase of second hand clothes and a few pound in his pocket. All he wanted to do was make a better life for himself as all his life everything he seemed to get was second hand. From the clothes he wore, to the watch he had on which he got for his birthday some years ago. He said his parents always struggled with money even though his dad worked six days a week. He was the youngest of five and often wishes to go back home but after lying for years to the people that matter to him. He felf he had to make it but has found life really different and difficult since the day he just up and left home. I asked him what does he do with his days now? What's the point of doing anything was the reply. If i go into a hostel it's just like being a part of a system that trys to do its best but just does work properly for me and I don't want to live with acholics and drug addicts because i am not one of those. I just want to be normal. Whatever that is

What's not new

2008-11-14T14:14:00.004Z

It's a fact that unemployment has gone up and more and more homes are being reposed is now old news but did you know that an extra 120 people slept rough in the last couple of nights and in the last three months the homeless figure has risen steadily. These figures were reached just by making a few phone calls to three homeless charities in certain parts of the country.
Homelessness is not a thing of the past. It's still a major issue and is going to be an even bigger issue over the next year. No one really wants to admit to a growing problem. The last time we had a recession homelessness went up by 26% . We see it more now on the fringes of big cities because of policies made by certain councils who want to give there area a look of cleanliness and respectability have made it impossible for homeless people to have what to them could be a safe place to sleep. Is it right that people should have to move from area to area? Christmas is on the horizon again and guess what we are talking about it again. The thing that is most annoying to me personally is that we are still talking about it. I know people will say things are being done but when you have only limited places for people who sleep rough in the winter I think is disgraceful in this day and age recession or not. The fact is no one wants to be homeless by choice is neither here nor there. It just happens. One decision, One bad move can and does change lives. Another thing that irks me is that out of the thousands over the years that have turned their lives around only 0.5% are now working for the homeless and I believe we have the opportunity over the next few years to remedy this. We should and can use the experiences of those that have been in the firing line as it were. I have been talking about homelessness now since I got my life back together and it seems I will be doing that for sometime to come. So I am thinking more positively and trying to work out how to have a more rigorous approach to the problem of homelessness and how to use the wealth of experience we have to good use. I have been toying with the idea of a hostel that is run by exhomeless starting with one then another and so on

Whats happening to me

2008-11-13T14:51:00.005Z

Well it's starting again the weird dreams and stuff. It was probably after watching Enchanted a simple Disney film. That night I got into bed with my hot water bottle for the first time (the hot water bottle not the bed) I fell asleep quite quickly which is mighty unusual for me but boy I dreamt one hell of a dream. It was so vivid and clear and it was strangely haunting and in a way funny the next morning. It went something like this, there was Gordon Brown singing I saved the whole worlds banking I saved the whole worlds banking just in time for Santa and things can only get better and what a wonder full Christmas this will be. Along comes Cameron and starts singing its much too much to bear and I started to think it was all there but now I'm feeling blue and don't know what to do so I think I'll tell a fib or two. All this is happening in the houses of Parliament but it's when everybody on the conservatives bench started standing as if there doing the Mexican wave and each one starts singing Where did it all go wrong we were a government in waiting and we thought we were so strong. Then as suddenly as it all happened there was a small chorus of it will be lonely this Christmas lonely and cold from the Lib Dem's. So I either have the Christmas bug and I'm happy or there is something is terribly wrong with me. Either way who cares I'd love to see MPs singing in the houses of parliament i'd pay to see that

From bad to worse

2008-10-31T14:31:00.002Z

I just don't get it anymore and I thought I was dumb but some of the governments thinking and plans seems to be heading in the direction of not thought out properly and definitely not workable with this credit crunch and recession biting. Who am I to talk anyway I've done some stupid things without thinking too much. there are three issues that are bothering me and i have made inquires of my own to shed light on these issues but I am still left with trepidation
House repossessions I know in the last quarter 11.000 homes have been repossessed and that it is expected to rise by another 10.000 by end of Jan 2009. I know the government have got some program for councils to buy and mortgages companies to rent out the properties to their tenants instead of them becoming homeless. The idea is OK and in it's self that's a good thing but with many councils and mortgages companies losing money to this credit thingy and from people in the know I have spoken seem to think that some councils will struggle over the next few years and the other thing is it defeats the object of people buying their homes.So here's what I would have proposed if I where an MP I would have made it possible for people to stay in their properties but would have frozen their repayments and made them pay rent until the financial crisis got better and then reapply their repayments at another rate to take into account all things well there it is

The government should really listen

2008-10-09T17:40:00.002+01:00

How do things get so complicated in such a short space of time? I believe the trouble with the banks was always going to come even I was forecasting doom and gloom some months ago and coming from me that was something but guess what nobody was listening as per usual. The only question that was being asked was what does he know? He's an ex drug addict and homeless person. Guess what? I do have a brain and although it was not been fully functional for years to my surprise and maybe yours, it does work! Even I know you can't keep borrowing beyond your means and you certainly can't keep borrowing Peter to pay Paul and you can't put high risk strategies at the forefront of any market. This is what I think banks have been doing for too long. To top this off giving people mortgages and loans three times the size of their incomes doesn't make any sense to me plus we all know the housing bubble had to burst sometime but who am I to talk.
What makes me so angry is the fact that the tax payer who now needs a helping hand with increasing energy bills and food prices can not get it. Yet within forty eight hours of the conservative leader telling us there was nothing in the cupboard and the country was going to face tough times a plan was being form by the government to bail out the financial market. I believe the total package is above 200 billion to date. Funny how we can bail out the financial system with no guarantee it will work. When tax payers are asking for immediate help with rising fuel costs. I listened to the off gen or was it off com report and it stated there was no collusion between the biggest energy companies to hike prices. Well, if they where in front of a jury they would definitely be found guilty because if you go back ten years every time the biggest put the prices up the rest follow suit and to me that's collusion and not fair competition. While I am at it I must vent more on this governments energy argument that approximately only ten percent of a families weekly income is spent on energy IE: gas and electric. I beg to differ. When I speak to various people who are working and they tell me that the increase in energy prices is affecting them and with food prices rising each month their ability to pay is causing them to worry and when I speak to couples with children on state benefits that tell me they are going without food for one or two days every fortnight because of the rises in gas and electric and food. I am a single man on benefits and I am struggling myself and I can tell you that this winter it will be a choice between being warm and hungry or freezing and you must remember those on prepayment energy meters are already losing out because they are paying a daily tariff just for the prepayment meter.
Sorry Mr brown But you don't live in the real world and you certainly are not listening to the people who put your party in office. Yes your measures for the future are good but over the next three to five years people are going to need your help. This is what they pay taxes for not to bail out banks that fed on an over inflated market. Oh and Mr Brown if you want to be prime minister for another four years I suggest you get all your party to listen to the people because they are the ones who want know you are really listening to them. There is a plus to this as well you get the trust of the people and that would be a first.

crash

2008-09-29T16:21:00.003+01:00

I asked the question some months ago what would happen if we had a financial crisis or crash. Well i think we are heading for just that and there is not much we can do but watch. The days of spend spend spend are truly over. So now my question is what happens to those that lose their homes or can't make payment for gas and electric payments. I believe we will see a steady rise in homelessness and council waiting list. A major growth in border line poverty in this country and real growth in actual poverty. Times are going to be hard for most the less well off will be worse off.
The government have already proved they don't really care and today they took control of the Bradford and Bingley mortgages. I still believe it will give all concerned a headache they wont recover from. Why well the by to let was a risky business at best but what i always remember was when the Conservatives where having their election for leader I remember David Davis saying you could always consider the buy to let market which I laughed at because I was homeless once and had only just got my own flat.
Well as i feel the pinch just like everyone i leave you with this thought who do you trust with your money. Is it safer under the mattress.

gas + electric = more poverty

2008-07-31T18:07:00.004+01:00

I am now being asked what do i think about the big price rise in gas and electric. My first reaction was to say hey I'm a guy who now has a flat and has only just begun to enjoy it but the fact is it does affect me as well as the people that are working. Here's what i have to say anyway. The 35% rise in gas prices was too excessive and what i can't believe is that British gas is allowed to get away with it. They say profits are down but are they really don't forget that British gas is an off shoot of centrica and that also makes profit. I thought the rise in gas would have been 22% to 25% and that still would have given a healthy profit. Over two point five million people will be below the fuel poverty line next year and i would estimate that a further one point three million by the beginning off the next. It is now up to the government to step in and take control. The word Poverty will become used and more common than it is today and i do believe that if this government don't do anything then it will become their Achilles heel and bring them down the people don't have much trust in them at the moment and if they just sit there then say goodbye to a labour government.

Another night finding the homeless not in view

2008-07-25T09:50:00.002+01:00

I go out most nights on to the streets of this big city to find out why people are now sleeping rough out of sight. Most people say it's from being woken up and told to move on, which most councils and police deny. Its that it was him not me thing that's going about. Why can't someone just say we are trying to clear the streets of homeless and get them somewhere safe which is of course what we have heard before and its only another little white lie as we know there are not enough spaces in hostels and there are few night shelters. It does seem to me that we are going backwards to the old days when they used to hose down the streets to move people on which by the way was barbaric> how does it end ? who knows ?

What do you have to do?

2008-07-21T17:11:00.000+01:00

Since i became a member of the nearly normal society brigade. I have done quite a lot of interviews and things concerning homelessness and every year it seems I am still writing the same old thing and still talking about ways to tackle homelessness. Strange but true. being homeless isn't a crime yet it does seem to be going that way as council after council try to stop people sleeping on the streets. I have to admit to the ingenious tactics they have used but until we all really admit that there is a problem, which by the way is growing once again.it's estimated that over a thousand people sleep rough on any given night and that over 400 hundred thousand sleep in temporary accommodation such as friends sofa's, hostels and night shelters and so forth. now the summer is here there aren't that many night shelters. It seems to me that over the last three or four years i have met MPs from various parties and they have all sat there and listened and asked questions but to be truthful nothing much seems to have been done. its the same old thing. It all comes down to money said one MP recently. we don't have that much money to spend and what we do spend on homelessness has been tried and tested and we can see a results for what we spent. I have been thinking about this statement for quite a while now and i have come to this conclusion, the results that this or any government see, seems to me to be about the same. one year the figures may be slightly down or static and the next slightly improved and of course we hear about this because any government worth its salt would say things are improving. Even i have to admit that compared with the homeless number ten to twelve years ago there has been a dramatic drop but things speak for themselves and the steady rise we are seeing all over the country needs to be addressed especially when you find people sleeping out of site of the public eye. these are the people that need to be included in any government statistic. we should be looking at new ways to end homelessness for good. it's the thing that has tarnished the reputation of Britain for years. homelessness has been with us as long as history can remember it's time to end it for good. not just hide it while the Olympics are here I know in the past we tried work houses and today they are called hostels but its not the brutal regime of the old days but the same thing applies to both once in one its hard to escape. Coming from me that might seem funny as i have my own flat and live quite a reasonable life but that took me nearly a life time to get because no one really knew how to tackle the problems i had and there are so many out there that don't have as long as i have had unless we learn more about homelessness it's affects on people, the root causes of homeless and how to break the cycle and habits of homelessness. I still believe that former homeless people are the key to getting things right

The weekends

2008-07-19T14:20:00.004+01:00

Saturday and all is well on the front line or so it seems but no one ever sees the true face of homelessness but at the weekends when all the day centers are closed and the streets are filled with shoppers doing their weekend thing. Homeless people can be seen sitting on a wall or on a bench in the park doing nothing but awaiting the next working day where they know they can get a shower clean clothes or even talk to someone about the problems they have. Politicians do not know what these people go through day after day and the weekend is one of the worst times. It's a time when you sit down anywhere and reflect on the week gone by and you don't see any change and don't see anything changing soon either. It's a poor outlook on things I know but this is the reality for most homeless people. I used to call the weekends my nearly dead days all I seemed to do then was wait for something happening and being stoned all the time didn't change anything. I still get a few dead weekends but nothing like what they were and besides I now have the choice what I do with them.
Imagine yourself homeless and there's no place to go during the day except the same museum you went to yesterday but it was a two hour walk and you don't really fancy getting sore feet again or just imagine its Sunday and there's hardly a sole passing by you're hungry because you could not buy a cheap breakfast and no one's handing out sandwiches anymore because the local councils have stopped them from coming. What would you do?

old age

2008-07-18T11:53:00.004+01:00

I was sitting down on the wall outside Charing Cross underground station and because I was having to look upwards at people passing by it sorted of reminded me of the times I used to be that beggar on the south bank. It was strange really having that feeling that everyone was looking at me again. That's the way it is some days little things remind me of what used to be and how I felt way back then. Everything changes over time we all grow older some of us grow wiser and some of us stay in that cycle of youth running around like teenagers at forty. Not a bad thing in itself but it just hides the fact that we are getting older by the minute and that youth does fade and we have to adapt or become the oldest swingers in town. I think Gordon used to be one you know.

WHY THE QUESTIONs

2008-07-15T15:18:00.004+01:00

It's been a hell of a week for news. Not good news at that but to my way of thinking its about time this government started to realise that not everyone is the same and this thing with the national health and targets is so miss leading that I think that everyone has sort of lost the plot. The NHS was never mean't to be a business. It was designed to help people in need of medical assistance but over the years the NHS has grown and so has the population. So the increase in spending on the NHS had to increase but by the amounts that this government has put in we should have a great one . So what has happened to it?
It's the same with our roads the government say there are a million more cars on the roads than ten years ago but once again i say that means the government had one million more in taxes. so why is it every year taxes go up and why do we have the largest tax in the EU on fuel?
Every day in this country a minimum of 40 people become homeless for one reason or another some times they have luck on their side and are found accommodation. Which prevents them entering the cycle long term homelessness but why in this day and age is it still hard to place people in temporary accommodation?
I have always thought this to be the best country in the world for freedom and the help we can get when times are hard but I am now beginning to see that all is not as it seems.
Is there any good news about to come our way?

IT'S FUNNY

2008-07-11T11:39:00.003+01:00

Isn't it funny the way things are spelled out on TV and in the papers. The credit crunch is what they are calling the present monetary crisis but isn't it really miss management and a bit of greed thrown in. It does seem that today everyone is out to get the best for themselves which, is understandable if you take everything that has happened over the last twenty to thirty years but you have to ask the question why didn't any body see these things coming and prepare properly for them. Credit crunches or what ever you want to call them don't just happen. I believe it is because we have no forward thinkers in the world today and we have too many this will do for now politicians. If you build a dam you make sure its built right and no expence spared to make sure it doesn't leak. Shouldn't the same be applied to politics. you should make the most stable and future plans and laws for the country of which you serve.
Its just seems funny that a beggar begging said any spare change please and a man who usually gave what he could afford now and again said sorry I can't afford to give you anything thanks to the government. Then he sat down next to the beggar and proceeded to write a sign saying not homeless but penniless please help.

2008-07-10T17:07:00.001+01:00

It seems to me we have this thing in society and in life generally that if you don't see anything, then what's the problem? The problem is that no matter who we are we just can't go around ignoring the problems that suround us on a daily basis. First there is the world wide problem of global warming and nobody seems to want to do much about it right now as it doesn't affect us right now. If that is the case then i have to ask the question. Do we love our children? because it is those who will be affected and suffer the most. people might say we are trying to do something about it but to be quite frank its just not enough. Remember when we were kids and we'd lie on the floor or stamp our feet and scream until we got what we wanted. Well i think it's about time for the whole world to stamp thier feet and scream before its too late. We are always saying that children are our future. So isn't it our duty to make sure they have one?
The second problem is since the announcement of the olympics to be held here in london in 2012. There has been this rush to clear the streets of the sight of poverty that clearly this country has. If you look back at previous olympics preperations in various countries. The same has happened there and in some cases it has been more forceful. Everyone I have spoken to seems to be of the same opinion that if you don't see the problem. Then whats all the fuss about? What gets me is that for years and years now previous governments started to do something about the problems and because of changes to various departments. Money and the basic drive for change has dried up and so the problem has some how been put to the back of the importance queue. its a shame because there were some good schemes and initives taking shape and at one stage homeless and poverty were decreasing. now its on the increase and when you see people sleeping near dustbins at the back of supermarkets like in Victoria, Camden Kings Cross, Greenwich these places are in London and out of sight of those that matter. What makes me shudder is that all the places i have mentioned I have seem mice and on occasion rats. So what makes these people sleep in such places and I do have one answer is that no one really understands the problem of homelessness it's not just about sleeping in shop doorways or having no job or place to live. It's more a question of survival. Not only do you have to learn how to avoid preditors that prowl the streets at night. You have to learn how to look after yourself and be safe at all times. Now councils accross London and elsewhere are making it harder and harder. Letting people go from area to area just because you don't want them in your area and waking them up and telling them not to sleep their again is not a solution. Telling them to go to the nearest day centre for accomodation isn't the answer either as most day centers will agree that getting a place in a hostel is virtually impossible but it's a first step.It makes me ask the question. How can this be happening in this day and age and why? When we are one of the eighth richest countries in the world. It just beggars belief. Thanks to crisis I can get out at night and speak to the people that matter

Nothing's really changed

2008-07-01T16:18:00.005+01:00

I'm pretty sceptic when it comes to the government and councils saying they will put homelessness on their agenda or saying we are trying to do something about it. Maybe they do but somewhere on the back page. so when it comes to a party like the conservatives who have let down the people in the past setting up a homeless foundation. I was blown away but then I looked at who would be on the board and I suddenly thought would it have been better to have some people who had the Tshirt and experience to be part of this foundation as well

So last night I walked the streets of London where I counted 28 people just in Charing Cross road which was ten more than two months ago. I spoke to them on the subject of the idea of the foundation but as usual the question of what experience besides sitting behind a desk have they got.? I then went to Victoria and chatted to over thirty people who all asked the same question. but they where more concerned about the fact that they can not sleep in the shop doorways anymore as they get woken up and moved on by some official looking people who tell them to move including the police. A few women I spoke to, say it's not safe for them to sleep in the back streets but that's what they are now doing. It's wrong for any council or government dept to stop people sleeping where it's safe, after all no matter what people situation isn't it their right to be safe.
Homelessness is definitely on the rise and there are many cities and towns that can say this is a fact. So what can be done we can't go back to the old system of just putting people into bed and breakfasts. We're already at breaking point with the hostel system which only partly works as like prisons we have people returning to the hostel system. I already have my own ideas on how to tackle some of the problems but this entails each person who goes into a hostel to sign a contract that states he or she will learn basic life skills IE: cooking, cleaning, budgeting etc. What i see and I do speak with a little knowledge having come off the streets myself. I couldn't cook for myself or budget properly but this is only part of the problem. I think the main problem is getting homeless people out of their way of thinking IE: thinking like a homeless person and doing things that have become a habit. So has anything changed? I guess not

what a day

2008-06-30T16:54:00.002+01:00

Well, today has just been one of those days you just want to hope is a dream but alas it's not and the day just goes on and on and on and on. I thought those kind of days were over for me but it seems I was wrong. So it got me to thinking which to be honest hasn't happened a lot just lately, anyway as I was saying I was thinking about all the things that are happening during the credit crunch and how it will affect many more and I think things are going to get a lot tougher in the coming months. I'm no economist but i see house prices falling by another 6% in the next six months and this means there will be a lot more people who will own properties that do not equal their mortgages and see the government try to put a freeze on wage rises whilst hiking up taxes. The question to ask is why is all this happening and why did no one foresee this months ago? I asked someone the other day why do people pay road taxes and still have to pay to use roads in city centres and why do we pay National insurance and still get unfair post code health services and why do we pay over the top taxes on petrol and lastly why if alcohol is so bad for us why is it legal it seems strange to me that the government spend millions on informing us about the risks in drinking yet by not making it illegal the government still earn from taxing it. Just seems strange when you think about it.

Do we still care about homelessness

2008-06-27T15:03:00.005+01:00

The amount of times I have heard, of course we care about homeless people and the less well off, it just makes me wonder and ask the question why have we still people living on the streets of our cities and why do we now have a network of hostels up and down the length of this country and why are they full up every night Its question after question with me I know but if you don't ask them then the right answers to the problems cannot be truthfully answered. The thing that does concern me is that we put people in to these places which really are today's poor houses if compare things with the Victorians. Workhouses were hard to get away from and they did leave the same kind of stigma that hostels leave today. That's why alot of people used different names. I have to admit that life isn't too bad these days but there is this feeling that by not spending the money now to train and teach the homeless and less advantaged that we are in fact building a second class of citizen. Everyone that works is this sector knows how difficult it is get people somewhere back in society and it's even much harder to get them back into work. That's why I advocated work training and life skills but even this sometimes is not enough

Don't enable beggars

2008-04-17T16:08:00.000+01:00

Well, someone had to start the ball rolling this year with the usual speech of don't give to beggars. This time it was Thamesreach and cynical me seems to think this is the usual ploy to get people to give them the money instead as they claim to help more in better ways. It does seem that when funds are cut or money is tight for some charities that they come out with this don't give beggars thing and they use this slogan that we could do more to help while this is right in so many respects it is also worth noting that many people who live on the streets from day to day struggle to survive. people who give money from time to time do help and yes they might inadvertently help them sustain their drug or drink habits but its not all doom and gloom as things appear to be and if you believe the new campaign of don't put the money in the pushers hands then things are at a worse state than i imagined. the thing is not every person on the street is an addict and this is the big misconception. yes there are addicts living on the streets and its a large number but it not the problem. The problem is there is not enough help. If you phone a hostel on a Monday morning you might be lucky to get a a place but it has been the same old story for a few years now that the shortage of places for people to stay and it has steadily rose year after year. Now in 2008 the story hasn't changed, things are still the same. They say by 2012 things will have been sorted but i think that its just all hot air and what big wigs think is if they put things out of sight then they can sweep the problem under the carpet so to speak. its that want you don't see doesn't hurt you thing. Maybe i am just getting too old and cynical but i have experienced it

As I see it

2008-03-25T14:28:00.003Z

As most of you know that for the almost all of last year my blog has taken a back seat while I became a full time carer for my friend who died in November. It has taken me a while to come to terms with but I am now back and for the last month I have been busy trying to find out about the hard core homeless people. These are the people that hostels and day centres have banned because of drink or drug related things and are hard to deal with. I suppose you could say these are the people that are blacklisted.
So I had an idea and set about it by virtually living on the streets at night. I wanted to find out if things had really changed since I lived on the streets.
What did surprise me was that only a few stopped to look and there was no look of shock on people’s faces. It was as if homeless people where expected to be where they were, like we expect to see statues in Trafalgar Square.
In my first week I had many arguments and nearly a fight with another homeless person who thought I was asking too many questions but in the end I walked away unscathed.
After asking all my questions and meeting people like, Paula, John, Ben, Cliff, Hussein, Michael and Nancy I came to my own conclusion about being homeless in today’s society.
As I see it various charities and institutions have some ideas and structures in place for those people that can help themselves or are ready and willing to take that first vital step. This is as I see it an excellent step in the right direction. It was this kind of help that helped me but there are still numbers of less fortunate people that are noticed but because they are the hard core homeless these are the ones that are hard work and not easy to place any where. The problem is that they drink or are heavy drug users and are really difficult to work with or they are just not on the radar because they are too busy surviving their own personal hell from day to day. They think they are forgotten except at Christmas. Which seems to them to be the only time they are treated as people? John says that the last four Christmases have been the only time he has talked to someone normal someone not living on the streets. These are people we see most days swaying from side to side or looking as high as a kite as they ask us for spare change and are not very polite if we say no. These are the people I believe that need the most help and these are definitely the hardest to help. The thing is, we really don’t have any new ideas how to reach them but we are not void of ideas. The government seem to think that attacking their benefits is one answer but I will disagree. It’s virtually certain most will die sooner than you or I. Yet if you spoke to them as I have done over the last month. It’s so surprising that they have such clarity on things you would not expect and they have a great sense of humour. Will it take drastic ideas to help these people or will it still be we can only help those who help themselves

Its that time of year again

2007-12-08T10:17:00.000Z

Christmas is just a few weeks away and already there are things going on the TV and radio about homelessness. It does seem that at Christmas and homelessness have become big issues. We have John Bird of the big issue saying and I quote we don't want to give homeless people a good Christmas. Actually John it's about giving homeless people a rest bite from the streets and giving them that first insight into what could be. I had to take that first step myself and I couldn't have done it without the help people from crisis and the big issue. Christmas is about compassion and those people who give up their Christmase's to help are a god send.
Imagine you are on the streets sleeping rough, nobody of any consequence wants to know you. The friends you have are just acquaintances they are here today gone tomorrow and many are to drunk or not so sober to have a decent conversation. So that first conversation with someone that you would call normal is quite an eye opener. Who knows what it call lead to? Who would have thought i'd be writing and reading and most important clean from drugs still but there are many people like me who just need a chance. Homelessness just isn't a christmas thing it's an everyday struggle for some people but what if it were your son or daughter wouldn't you want the best for them no matter what?

Still on the subject of hostels

2007-10-25T21:20:00.000+01:00

I wasn't thinking about work houses as they used to be called but what I was thinking of was properly run hostels with people having the choice to work there or not and those who did got paid a proper wage. These of course would only be short term hostels with a definite move on to independent living say after a year but it would be the choice of the homeless person not the hostel. The reason why i am thinking this way is as funds will eventually be cut and the cost of living in a hostel rises i think the government will have to look at hostels as a business which i think happens already. It's the same with the NHS it's now looked as a business

Modernising Hostels

2007-10-23T07:52:00.000+01:00

Homelessness itself has it's pitfalls falls but getting out of the cycle of homelessness once you are off the streets also has it's down falls like, no move on for sometime, not being given any kind of incentive to come off the dole simply because it's easier to let the government keep on paying the high cost of living in a hostel. Ho do you make hostels more inviting and self supporting? After all the public want a system of hostels that do not burden the tax payer more than usual. my idea would be to take people off the streets as we are doing now and have a period of what i call assessment, a getting to know the needs of the client. Then a contract between the hostel and the client could be made to improve the quality of life in the hostel and this doesn't mean job search. it means cooking and budgeting classes or learning skills like reading or writing so when their move on comes they are ready to deal with the fact that they now have to cope on their own. If you think about it homeless people lose the skills they learned to use years ago because there is only the need to survive. What I would also like to see is self supporting hostels where the guest do the work like cleaning and cooking in the hostel and some becoming members of staff themselves but to get there money has to be put into the system and it has to be used more on hostels that do work or use new initiatives. Then you have a hard core of homeless people that have spent the years on the street and these are the most difficult to work with as they recent not being able to live on the streets or they maybe anti rules. We have to find a way of balancing things so we can show them their are other ways to live. we have to get rid of the saying you can take a horse to water but you cant make it drink. Things have to be inviting after all you wouldn't want to live in a place that was run down and scary would you?

Thank you

2007-10-19T16:29:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been one hell of a week. My friend who I was caring for died on Sunday night and I have had to make the necessary arrangements. I would like to thank all the people that have so far sent me money to help with Alan's funeral and thank you for all the condolences I have received. Some of you who volunteered for crisis at Christmas in the drinkers shelter will know of Alan as he spent the last six of them there and when we put computers in the shelters you could always find him sitting at one. It's funny to look back and see us both there me with my drug problem and him drinking. I sometimes sit quietly at night thinking of things and how life is sort of strange and sometimes more complexest than anyone can imagine I quit drugs and now lead something of a normal life and my friend Alan finally quit drinking only to die at the tender age of forty nine. the last months of his life where spent trying to learn the guitar and listening to Alabama free. I can understand why so many people get so worried about paying for funerals and all that goes with it. It's so expensive which I find hard to understand and it takes so f--king long to get the funeral payment from the dss social fund and then it doesn't cover the whole cost of the funeral. I still have to find 500 pound to give him a decent send off. I believe strongly that all people should be buried or cremated at a reasonable price and if you get benefits before you die then it should be free or come out of what you leave behind if you leave anything. so as I wait to see if I have to raise any more monies for the funeral. I will think of the good times we spent together and smile at the funny moments.

Thanks to the postie but

2007-10-11T02:55:00.000+01:00

Thanks Mr postman whoever you are. Here's a scenario though say you get what you want and next year things are now even tougher and on the decline for Royal mail due to the Internet and other things like private mail deliveries because actually much it's cheaper and the competition are much better and they have a better time frame delivery. Now Royal mail has to make sweeping changes and you are in the frame, lets say your sorting office has to close along with three others which means two hundred jobs or more have to go but because the year before you demanded less hours and more money and went on strike to get it. It has cost the company. When in fact you should have been negotiating and offering something to Royal mail. There is a saying a fair days pay for a fair days work and this should be the basis on any employment deal. Times are tough with new things like email and other things coming along and any unions should be looking at keeping men employed and looking ahead to the future. I'm sorry but I truly believe that's not what's happening it seems to me that the union has taken leave of its senses. You should be fighting for job security and by saying you'll deliver mail at seven in the morning so most people including businesses get there mail and don't lose because they didn't. It's only then more people will once again trust and always use Royal mail when that happens profits accrue and job security is assured but who am I to talk?

Royal mail, I'm on strike

2007-10-09T12:00:00.002+01:00

Most postmen are not going to like what I am about to write but it's fact and I think most people will agree with me.
Over the years the postman was always the one man we could rely on to deliver our mail come hell or high water twice a day. Once in the morning between 7 and 11 and then between 12 and 2 in the afternoon until a few years ago. Now we are lucky to see one letter before midday and they call it modernisation. I know we have to move with the times but when you have modern sorting machines in most sorting offices today what is the problem?
Why should any company let alone the Royal mail pay workers for doing less work than they did three or four years ago?
What really annoys me it sometimes takes three days for a first class letter to get to me posted from Birmingham and you can guarantee the cost of a first class stamp always increases. The fact is that postmen do need a decent wage to live on but not at the cost to the public. Me, I would like to see the mail back to twice a day and on time after all, this was all done before modernisation wasn't it?

2007-10-09T11:27:00.000+01:00

I have listened to most of the speeches made at all the party conferences and not one mention on homelessness. Loads of things on housing. Concentrating on house buying and first time buying but nothing really on social housing except for what was said last year and the year before that and just repeated this year. The fact that we actually spend less on social housing now than at any time this century has to be a worrying fact not only for homeless people but for all that urgently need housing. When I met with the housing minister last year she said there was a high demand for family housing IE: three and four bedroom housing. Well this might be true where she lives but what I can say without a shadow of a doubt is that most people want basic livable housing. Not the fancy housing that most councils see as the future of housing. Housing stocks by the way has dwindled to about 3% of councils total housing.
Affordable social housing needs to be looked at urgently as the population rises at an alarming rate due to the influx of people from different countries and a vast majority of people now making families . If you don't build houses you can't make communities and if you can't make communities you can't get people living together and then you get a class divide. The rich and poor, have not and haves which is exactly what is happening at this moment in time. This government has claimed that it is investing in people. People don't believe in the government because they are not actually doing the things they promised

How to become homeless in one easy lesson

2007-08-09T14:07:00.000+01:00

It is so easy to become homeless. All it takes is one bad decision and bang you're on the streets wondering what to do next. When I ask people what they think about homelessness. The most common answers are it's their own fault or there's no need for them to be homeless as there are places for them to go. This maybe true in both cases but imagine you are having problems, say you are drinking all day long and the place you live in has become a drinkers hovel. You get drunk one day and suddenly decide to move and try to better your life. So you move to another city with no thought as to whats going to happen to you. That first night you might spend just walking the streets of the new city you're in, still with the good intentions but when those nights turn into weeks and the weeks turn into months. It's only then you discover you're problems haven't decreased in fact you have just added problems because you are still drinking you have given up your home and are now living on the streets getting by with hand outs. All because you made a bad decision. Now you want to get off the streets and really try to make a new start but all the hostels are full or you can't get a place in a detox centre for a few months. You begin to give up. Imagine it's four years later. The drinking is now out of control. You are still sleeping on the streets and looking much worse for wear because that day you left you're home with all those good intentions has turned into a nightmare but there is still that idea that you can change but it becoming more and more difficult to do as you are getting much worse and the life you lead now has become away of life. It's that easy to become homeless.

Still no joy

2007-08-08T19:45:00.000+01:00

Well would you believe it after various government departments say things are going smoothly if you take into account the amount of people claiming their various benefits but, isn't this government saying there are less people now on benefits. Yet here I still am trying to get a crisis loan and still my new benefit office has not sorted my new claim. I am now at my wits end after ten days of phoning my local job centre to get the appointment. What do I do next, that is the question? Do I sit on a city centre street and beg as one social security officer told me a few years ago.
I still have not heard from any MP yet and I would clearly like to have a conversation on benefits and their accessibility and why new rules job seeking now seem to have gone haywire as you can now be an escort.
The fact of the matter is because government officials haven't really been unemployed and the people that make up these rules for getting benefit just don't have a clue as to what people really need. When this government got elected, it was modernisation that was their goal. They intended to modernise the NHS and the welfare state but all they have succeeded in doing is to make life more difficult for the most needy in our society. It shows clearly that the gap between the rich and poor is now widening

PART 2 System not working

2007-08-01T23:39:00.000+01:00

I was at it again today trying to find out how many people are suffering hardship due to different offices and their various operating systems for people who need urgent help. I went to three offices across London but it was much the same as yesterday. People were having to wait forever trying to get through to the loan departments. One man had been trying for ten days and was now at his wits end. When he complained to the manager all she could say was sorry but you'll have to keep on trying. Some were just being told come back and try again tomorrow. At the Bexley heath office (my office) I still couldn't get through to the apply for a crisis loan. When I complained I was told to speak to my local MP on the matter. They admitted that there were problems with the system and due to the volume of calls there wasn't anything they could do but when I suggested that any one signing on who has not received a payment should be given some sort of form to take to the loans department automatically but all they could say is that they were just doing as they were told.
This just seems to me to be passing the buck. I will try to get an MP to comment on this issue sooner rather than later but it just seems to me that we have a social security system that is clearly not working, especially for those that are more disadvantaged than most.
I know it is not right for anyone to wait between three and four weeks to be paid any money especially if you have children but the government say anyone is entitled to receive benefits as long as they fit all the criteria but to not be able to apply for what is known as a crisis loan after you do because it seems that certain stumbling blocks are now being erected. Which cause more hardship. This not the way forward for any government and any government must remember these are the people that vote them into office.

Government system of social security not working

2007-08-01T00:31:00.000+01:00

Today I went to my new job centre plus to sign on. I did what I had to but my payment had not been sorted so I tried to make a application for a crisis loan and what do you know I had to make the phone call to make the appointment from the office phones that are there to make phone inquires. After an hour I still couldn't get through to make the appointment and I still haven't been able to make an appointment to make the claim but I wasn't the only one, nine more people tried in the time I was there. They all needed to make claims for crisis loans three of those people had children. I went to another office to see how many people where trying to make claims for crisis loans and guess what the same thing was happening there. This time there where thirty people in the waiting room but you only got seen if you where there by 11 am and it was only the first twenty five people. Tomorrow I am going to another office but from what I gather so far is that we have an emergency system that's definitely not working and I want to find out if this is happening up and down the country. I am one of the lucky ones I have enough gas and electric to keep me for at least another week.
I always thought the idea of crisis loans were for people in urgent need today not tomorrow. so some people are probably without gas and electric and food tonight because the were in urgent need but due to the way different job centres work people are suffering and I am pretty certain that it's not government policy. Obviously as the benefit system creaks and the lack of staffing shortages takes it's toll. The benefits system is fast becoming unmanageable and to top my not being able to get an appointment to get my crisis loan. I was also told by the benefits office that there is a back log of claims and it could be three or four week before I get any money and if you add on the four or five days it takes for them to put it into my account that would be five Weeks. So what can be done and is it illegal to deny someone the right to make a claim for a crisis loan? Because that is what some job centre pluses are doing.

A normal life

2007-07-27T02:51:00.000+01:00

How do you live a normal life if you're in a hostel or living on the street? The answer you can't because you really don't have a normal life like most people in this country. Times maybe hard for some of us but most of us have a roof over our heads and food in our bellies and that's how we live day to day kind of easy. We can come home and shut out the world for a few hours, sit down and watch TV or read a book without being disturbed by someone who has had a bit too much to drink or has a health problem that probably makes him shout out a lot. We might not have a lot of money in our pockets( the government says we have more money in our pockets than five years ago) but we survive the rigours day today living. Now imagine living on the streets, your bed is a piece of card board from the back of a near by shop and every night you are praying something good happens to you the next day and you don't have use your wits to struggle through another day or walk miles to find somewhere safe to sleep. Imagine you're a young woman it doesn't take much to send a shiver down your spine does it? All most people want is some kind of life akin to what some people would call normal. you know a house or a flat some where warm and cosy but you can call it home. It doesn't matter how well meaning some of our charitable organisations are but until you get that stable base then its hard for anyone to have a life that's normal.

Sums that just don't add up

2007-07-23T17:48:00.000+01:00

In Gordon Browns opening speech as prime minister he made a reference to building three million more homes by the year 2020. Well, even I am not that good at my math but even I know at the rate of people needing homes in the future we will still be around 3.7 million homes short and that's an estimation of people needing homes at the rate needed today. With all the people we have coming to live here from EU countries and future generations having their children and so on, if you stop to think about things for a while it all just doesn't add up. Maybe this government and the previous ones should have made education a higher priority and math being a higher part of the education curriculum because adding up for many politician seems to be a problem.
What about all the social needed housing because as housing prices rise and they will keep on rising until this government intervenes. I do understand the economics and the value to any government to keep house prices high but what I don't understand is the over inflation.
Ordinary working class people are being priced out of the housing market and that where I think more help will be needed. We have a huge short fall in rentable accommodation in this country and we have a private sector that's taking full advantage of that fact and are charging rents that are overly inflated but if you are on government benefits then you simply will be lucky to get a place and that's becoming a problem and for once i don't have an immediate answer to the problem but I am sure the problem could be eased by not knocking down much needed housing to regenerate areas that really don't need regenerating.

Jamie speaks

2007-07-19T23:35:00.000+01:00

It has now been about three and a half months that I have been going to the hospital to visit my friend who was in a comma and has now woken. The bad news is that he is severely brain damaged and the kind of damage he has received is beyond repair. Some of you who read my blog will know my friend Alan from the crisis Christmas shelter. He was a guest for many years All this makes me think of how lucky I am to be still around after the life I have led but things are not that simple, how could they be? It's like saying we are the only intelligent being in the universe and believe me when I say I sometimes wonder about the intelligent part. Life is what you make is the saying I have often heard but if you start life at the bottom of the pile so to speak, sometimes that's where you will stay because no one wants to give you a second glance and to me that's whats missing in society today. You have probably heard some pensioner say in my day things were different. I sometimes get the feeling he maybe right. If you think about it we have had world wars and other things happen. Yet there was a togetherness, a comradeship of the British people that brought them together no matter what and that's what I think is missing in today's society. Look at the soldiers that are now sleeping rough at nights we don't give them a second thought probably because we think they are already looked after I mean why wouldn't they be? but it's just not the case. Some suffer from mental illnesses that we couldn't image. After what some of them have seen we just would not understand. What makes me so mad is that we believe nearly all that is told us by governments. It's only over the last ten years that some people have begun to question the decisions and statements that the government make. Now for something else while I am here. People see me as an ex homeless drug addict who has only just got his life back together and doesn't really have a mind of his own and is a puppet for a certain charity but I can tell you all this. Although I do quite a lot of things for my favorite charity Crisis I have a mind of my own and I have my own opinions and sometimes I am outspoken but I listen to what people say and make my own mind up. Everyone knows that I think some of the best people to work with homeless people are the ones who has been there and got the T-shirt so to speak case. So there you have it Jamie McCoy speaks up.

2007-07-10T01:27:00.000+01:00

Every so often something happens to make us sit up and take notice of what's going on around us. Take this weekend and the concerts to let us know about global warning which in its self is a good thing. The fact that the people know about it already and are taking steps although they are only small ones is great but governments that we the people have elected seem to side step the issue is the most worrying factor. We hear about alternative energy sources and other things to help with the environment but what do we really know. Do we know for instance how much damage has been done to the ozone layer and is it repairable or is it the case that we have to look to the stars to find new homes in the very near future. I for one am glad that I wont be moving in my life time but what would happen in a few years when flooding becomes a thing of each season and the Thames barrier is not longer doing its job and the fact that England is shrinking at twice the expected rate due to ever rising sea levels? What happens to the homeless when there is no place to sleep, no shop doorway? Will the figures be true or Will they be the rough estimates we have today. The figures make me smile most of the time and the way the government come up with a figure on how many people are sleeping rough on any given night is a bit perplexing because no matter what, the actual figure is usually two and a half times that much. At least it's not the two and a half thousand it was. The thing that I see day in and day out is people that are homeless and all they need is just that a half chance to get their lives back together.

Not born homeless just made

2007-07-05T02:38:00.000+01:00

It's funny but homelessness is a thing that has always been since God knows when. Every time we think we have got it cured or reduced to a small manageable number it raises it's head to just to let us know it's still here and very much alive. Every one asks the question how can we cure this problem once and for all but it's not that easy when you have some people who want to live on the streets because it's all they know and how do you support the people you can help. There has been many different schemes all with the same goal in mind but there has to be a permanent solution.
Some day there will be something in place for all. Not only for the young but the over twenty fives. It does seem that if you're over a certain age then there is very little in place to prevent anyone becoming homeless. I have certain cases in mind when I say this as the in their cases homelessness could have been avoided. Most of us were born in hospital or at home. We were not homeless. Yet as I am siting here twenty more people are sleeping rough for the first time all over the country tonight. The government say it's not as big of a problem as it was but how many of us go into town and see people sleeping rough? How many of us know about some of the things homeless people have to put up with in the hostels they are in and how many of us would wait two or three years to be housed in a shared flat or another hostel? This is what happens. I would like to see hostels with some kind of rehabilitation for addicts. There are a few that have drug units but these are few and far between and there's not much follow on. Many hostels would prefer to take non addicts because they are easier to manage and the only time you actually see an addict on TV is at Christmas when you see the opening of the crisis shelter and to be honest its not just a Christmas thing. I am not saying that hostels go out of there way to be choosy but with addiction on the rise again this year. We have to start thinking about more permanent solutions to all the problems. It's a fact that if you become an addict you are more than likely to become homeless within a small space of time

Nothing much changes

2007-07-03T14:01:00.000+01:00

When I was a young man I ran away from one situation into another and really that's how my life has been for well, my whole life. The drug issues I had I think where a symptom of the life I was leading at the time. Although my life has changed dramatically ( for the better ) Things still seem to be a bit same old same old. I walk London's West End talking to all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds, but nothing seems to change significantly enough to put a smile on the faces of some of the people I meet. I was talking to a student last night and he was saying that when he finishes his teachers degree. He will be in so much debt that he just can't see past enjoying today. I asked does he think the government have got it wrong when it comes to paying college fees. He said yes and there has to be a much better way of getting the teachers we need without them getting into debt. Debt is one of the biggest headaches this country has and it doesn't seem to be easing one in three families have outstanding debts. One in five single people have credit card debt and four out of ten people on income support, incapacity benefit or other government benefit have outstanding debts from loans to rent arrears . It's funny but as the years have rolled on by nothing has really changed the rich are even richer. the poor are still stuck in the poverty trap as they where twenty years ago

Olympics or bust

2007-07-03T02:18:00.000+01:00

I was listening to the latest news about the Olympics and I couldn't help but wonder, why we have had such an outcry for more space to build houses? When all of a sudden we can find the space and money to build an Olympic village with all its amenities doesn't it seem a bit strange? We are spending billions ( cost still rising) on something that will not be used to its fullest after the games. We haven't seemed to have learned from other counties what happened after the Olympics and how much its still costing them. Will it cost us more in the long term? who knows? who really cares? I will probably among the thousands that will watch it.

2007-07-03T01:54:00.000+01:00

We all fall short on somethings in our life but we usually manage to put things into some kind of prospective. For some of us for one reason and another we never quite manage it and the small failures in our lives turn into massive and irreversible ones or so we think but given half a chance most would jump for joy in being able to correct something long over due but even this doesn't help people that have been labelled. Stigmas are attached to most things in life whether it be homelessness or health problems or even someone going to work in a suit. The usual thing for homeless people is that its their own fault or they must drink and get high every night. On the other hand you have someone who is a bit dysfunctional, not so clever through no fault of their own. The stigma attached can have a devastating affect we call them everything we have ever read or heard from dumb dums to retards. It's not very often we actually see the person in front of us and very rarely do we get to know them.
I was wondering if this was a big part of the problem that we as a society have in trying to help people less fortunate than ourselves.

Some body is smiling today

2007-06-28T01:38:00.000+01:00

It's a new day and a new prime minister now resides at number 10 but will things really change? The saying trust me I'm a politician comes to mind when I think about Gordon Brown wasn't he the one who gave pensioners a little extra and then took it back straight after the election. Now he has become prime minister should we worry?
There are still people homeless in this country who now have the right to vote. They maybe in hostels or bed and breakfasts but as the numbers grows there seems no end in site and I fear that eventually we will have the same problems all over again. People sleeping rough, hostels few and far between and the over burdened tax payer having to fork out more money. Why is it allowed to happen? When there are things we can do today that will save many lives and the tax payer thousands in the future.
So many times I have heard the phrase everyone is equal but this is not absolutely true and I think it would be stupid and unwise to assume that this will improve in the future but everyone must be given the same rights as the next person maybe that's the way forward to make sure everyone has the right to a home, to be protected, to have the letter of the law applied equally and lastly everyone has the right to his or hers freedom of choice, Which to be honest seems to be slowly eroding away.

What does it mean to be homeless?

2007-06-19T10:30:00.000+01:00

In this country we see people everyday of the week sitting or sleeping in some shop doorway or on some street corner in one of our towns or cities. The question we always ask ourselves is why? The government tells us they are well on the way to curing the problem but are they?
Homelessness is not just about sleeping on the streets. I personally think it’s about not having some place to call your own. To call home. Not having that front door key so you can open and shut out the world and have your own privacy and space. Which most people in this country can do.
Living in one of the many hostels doesn’t give you that as you have to share most of the day with some face you don’t know. You share toilets and bathrooms. You are virtually sharing your life with someone else. Which really is a relationship you don't really want or didn't ask for.
To be stuck in limbo as I like to call it is waiting for a place of your own, which by the way the government is so adamant about but because no houses or flats are being built that wait is getting longer and longer and as that wait becomes ever increasing the hope that homeless people are given fades as they face uncertainty. The problem today is if you’re single and have nothing then you are more likely to stay that way. Why? I think it’s the lack of genuine progressive ideas by local government. Every government over the last 100 years has tried different things from work houses to today’s hostels and the truth is nothing seems to work. We have always had homeless people. No one wants to be homeless. Although people do become homeless it’s not on purpose. Living rough on the streets of Britain isn’t a choice. Most of the time it’s the only thing left and the thing is it can happen to anyone.
How many people do we have that live on the streets and still rise at six in the morning to go to work? Yet that’s what some homeless people do. Not all are the typical stereo types So when you’re passing some homeless person asleep in a shop doorway don’t jump to the conclusion that he or she must be an addict or alcoholic and it’s their fault that they are there. Think about what you would do if you where in that position

Changes needed

2007-06-15T12:15:00.000+01:00

Like most people I listen to the radio and watch the news TV and something’s make me wonder. Take for instants the PM quitting Downing Street. Me, I thought it was about bloody time because when you think about it. He dosen't leave great legacy but at least he does leave one. One of his best achievements was on the conflict in Northern Ireland. That did take some doing but on the other hand he took us in to a war that we didn’t really want and should have found another way to deal with. On the home front well, what can I say? Well let me see, ten years ago the NHS was in a desperate situation. Guess what, it still is. We still have over one and a half million people stuck in the poverty trap. not much change there either. Plus, we now have over 600,000 single people stuck in temporary accommodation, hostels, B and B's and on the streets because the government has not built enough new homes and have focused their efforts on home ownership.
In most towns and cities we have areas people are afraid to go to. Kids are carrying knives and some guns. Which tells me things have gotten worse over the last ten years instead of better. Will Gordon Brown be a better PM? Will he listen to the voice of the people? Will he appoint ministers that truly know what this country desperately needs. Which clearly Mr. Blair didn’t. Well. Mr Blair I am one of the many that thought your best just wasn't quite good enough. I personally think you tried to be the male version of Mrs.Thatcher and it didn't quite work. Something tells me not much will change. I guess I am one of many who think the same

I'm sort of back

2007-06-13T21:05:00.000+01:00

As you know from the lack of blogs I have been away for a while. Firstly I have been sitting by my friends bedside in hospital most days of the week over the last few months. He went into a comma and he has not come out of it. It made me think about things and how things can happen in just the blink of an eye, although my life has been strange and one dimensional at times. It just seems to me that there is this thing we call life and we should live it to the fullest. Some can't as they have problems that really no one understands fully unless you have had them and lived with them. I am not the smartest cookie in the jar but I do believe we all should have the chance to live a life as normal as possible but how often have you heard the question. What is normal? Even I don't know the answer to that but society has a sort of template we are supposed to follow. So if that's it? Then dosent society have to help the less fortunate meet those goals

The Local Elections

2007-05-02T11:50:00.000+01:00

It's that time again when we are supposed to vote in the local elections but who should we vote for? I took it on myself to go out on to the streets of London to ask homeless people what they thought of it all.
John has been living on the streets for two and half years he was in a hostel but went back on to the streets because as he says he couldn't get a good nights sleep he said it was like Piccadilly circus in the rush hour every night. There where people running round banging doors and drink and drugs where common place. when he complained he was in fact given a warning so he left and is now back on the streets where he feels safer anyway.
I asked him what he thought about the local elections coming up and what it would mean to him. he chuckle for a few minutes then said that it doesn't really matter who gets into power nothing will change. He would still be living on the street and councils would still be footing the bill for hostels that where in fact not doing a very good job.
I walked a little further and met up with a young couple in Charing cross road. they both said what's the use of these local elections anyway it only gives pointers to who's getting into power at the next general election besides they don't listen to what people really want or if they do they simply don't do anything. Take the last load of elections they asked us to tell them what we thought and what they could do to make things better. We told them and still nothing has been made better. Now they want us to text them with the same problems because we do have the same problems. but now we can do it using new technology. We always thought these politicians and councilors, where the people who should know what we want after all didn't we vote for them because they where supposed to have heard us?
On my way back to where l live that night. I started to talk to the a man called Paul, who was sitting next to me on the tube( a risky move at the best of times) I got on the subject of the forth coming local elections and this is what he had to say
I vote at the local elections because one day one of these politicians or councilors might actually do some good but at the minute all I see is money being taken from me by government and more from the council. My pay doesn't increase as much as my council bills. This can not go on someone has to see sense. Take my council bill, they send us these sheets of paper telling us what the money is being spent on. Then say oh we are sorry but we aren't taking enough. We would like you to pay more for instance the idea of charging by the kilo for rubbish removal you know the bins, but I already pay through the nose for that. Then they say well you pay for the police as well but do i see any and when i do need them it takes forever for them to arrive. Am I getting value for my money at this moment in time? no, but I am like so many people sick and tired of all the promises by government bodies. I shall keep voting Just in case.
You can imagine what a busy night I had but when it comes down to it who do we vote for? At this minute I believe a number of councils in this country are being mismanaged and haven't a clue as to what it's people really want or need. They use the words modernisation but is it really? I for one want to see more affordable social housing with communities that are living together and that have respect for one another, Maybe i live in cloud cuckoo land but one day we will get back to proper values. Didn't we once have a society that could leave back doors open without fear of being robbed?

Watch this space

2007-04-14T10:02:00.000+01:00

Sorry is the first thing to say to all of you that have missed my thoughts on homelessness and life and things in general but I have been really ill and really busy. I am now back to full strength and raring to go. People find it strange that someone like me who really has been asleep to the world for so many years has an opinion. Alas I do and what I think is that most people want to shout that things are not right and just don't have the time or simply can't because of pressures from work or home. I do it just to upset the apple cart. So this coming week I have a few things to say so watch this space

Who cares

2007-04-03T15:31:00.000+01:00

The world has gone mad or this country has gone haywire I think. Take for instance going to the shops or waiting for a bus. It's bad enough that during the day you have to worry about being robbed or mugged but at night it's a no no. My friend who lives in a reasonably quite part of London says he will not go out at night because of youths in gangs and fear of being robbed again. I live in central London and I don't go out unless it's in town to do my thing. It's so crazy but who really cares about what's happening. The government make all these laws to try and stop it but when you think about it they don't work because it's the softly softly approach and inb most cases only a sticking plaster solution. Get tough on crime. How is the question I'm asking because from what I know until we do in fact treat crime as an offence against the people of a decent society we will not improve the situation. Should we make prison more of a punishment and not the holiday homes they are fast becoming known as. have you ever heard the expression i can do the time standing on my head. well this is what most prisoners say. Should we be tougher when it comes to the law? Because if you get a youngsters stealing and taking drugs and commiting serious crimes isn't it best to fire the warning shots now before it gets to late. What should we do if a parent has lost control of the family. Should we still blame the parent. It's funny but not everything is so black and white. People keep telling me there is an awful big grey area but all I see is a soft society that is willing to live with what's going on. In the old days people would help each other but today people live in fear of being stabbed or shot and this is not the way to live. Tell me what you think.

A death on the street

2007-03-20T12:27:00.000Z

Most people think that a homeless man who dies on the streets have family or friends that can be contacted but this is not the case for most homeless. It's a case of a paupers grave with virtually no one seeing them off. It's one of the things that I dreaded. Homeless people lose all ties with family and genunie friends and if you think about it, most people we meet on the street and call freinds are in fact only aqqaintenses. They only become part of our lives the longer we are on the streets. It's sad to hear that a homeless man has died on the street but it's a fact of life but did you know last year more homeless people died from being attacked on the street than ever. This is another growing concern because not only are youngsters being knifed to death but if you're asleep in a shop doorway you more likley to be asaulted or seriously injured just because someone thinks its funny and are probably drunk. there are too many pits falls for people living rough. The problem is there are too many people willing to take advantage of that fact.

Exiting a lfe

2007-03-12T18:15:00.000Z

I tend to read or hear the news most days but when I hear people saying as I did today on a bus that homeless people really don't know what's going on in the world. I do get frustrated. Homeless people do have a bad rep and the conversation I overheard was the result of a man getting on the bus with his blankets and because he was a little drunk and quite loud. The thing that I gleamed from the overheard conversation was that the public still had no idea what had befallen this man to become like he was. It dosen't matter who we are we all have times we can't handle but most of us have friends and relatives to turn to but most homeless people don't and they rely on strangers for help and guidance. Not all homeless people started out as drug addicts or drunks but it is now the situtation they are now in and believe it or not most want out of that life but don't know how to find the exit. no matter what we have to keep on finding ways of showing these people there are better ways to live a life and i don't think its forcing them in to rehabs or specialised places like John bird the founder of the big issue would like to see. There is a saying which I think is true for most people who have an addiction and that it is, that you can take a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Safoo The Extraordinary Mouse.

2007-03-09T14:36:00.000Z

"Today's story is about a small mouse called Safoo, who I must say was quite a clever mouse as mice go,” said the old storyteller.
The children sat with a look of expectation on their faces. They always enjoyed the old storytellers tales and today was no exception...

Safoo was a thin grey mouse with little black spots on the end of his nose, which his mum said where mouse boiled spots and they would disappear when he was older. He was rather small for a house mouse, Infact he was one of the smallest mice anyone had ever seen, he wasn’t much bigger than a newborn baby, but that didn't stop him doing all the things that bigger mice did. He loved to run and jump about in the fields where he lived. He often dreamt that he was the biggest mouse in the world living in open fields. Just having fun and doing what ever he liked.
“Watcha doing Safoo?” said a voice.
It was Safoo’s best friend Bonus. Now bonus was a giant of a mouse with big dark patches all over his body. He also had a high-pitched voice and a limp, which sometimes made him look and sound a bit strange but safoo did not see anything strange because Bonus was his best friend..
“You’re not smiling today, something wrong?” “Were you playing in the field all on your little lonesome?
Why didn’t you come and get me?” Bonus said looking at Safoo out of the corner of his eye
I did, but your dad said you couldn’t come out to play. So I tried to play by myself. It was fun at first but its not the same as when you’re with me said safoo quietly while kicking a loose stone.
So you missed me? Safoo missed me, safoo missed me safoo missed me Bonus started to sing.
Suddenly Safoo saw something move in the bushes. He whispered to Bonus something’s moving over there. Then just as he was about to say something else when a giant of a cat came sauntering towards them. Bonus began to shake uncontrollably.
“This is it “cried Bonus “we are going to become cat food and I’m going to be cooked till I’m well done. I want my mummy. The cat stopped and looked Safoo straight in the eyes. Then without warning it made a slashing movement as if to say you mine.

If you want more you'll have to buy the book

I did it and said it

2007-03-09T13:10:00.000Z

I have now finished my children book to my satisfaction and I think it quite good (first few pages coming next) but none of this would have been possible if I hadn't have gotten my self clean from drugs and had the right kind of help on the education front. When I think back to my days of nothingness I keep thinking that so much of my life was a waste but all I can say now is it's a shame and in the past.
When I go out on to the streets to do what I call the Jamie interviews I ask ordinary people why they donate to charities like St mungo's or crisis. Most of the time the answer I get is that the government do not do enough to help those groups the are disadvantaged. What does this say to me? It says that people do want to help and in most cases would mind a penny rise in tax if they knew it was going to the right government initiatives. Believe me when I say there are a few schemes out there that are not right. Lets say today's young society. Its full of the must have gadgets and clothes but you have to be well off to afford them or have several credit cards which of course leads to debt but all this still gives us the haves and have nots and if you put all the have nots in to a small area spattered with a sprinkling of the haves you are going to get a certain amount of resentment and of course crime. Most people blame the area, the rate of unemployment, poverty in fact there are number of things to indicate this. People and statistics say that a higher percentage of these people end up addicted to something or end up on the streets. In truth anyone of us could fall victim to living a life with no hope and on the streets. We all walk a very thin line. I agree that a higher percent do in fact come from deprived areas
but I also think that people make bad choices in life and suffer for them. What we didn't see years ago was helping being given to people that really needed it. Now we have several charities doing exactly the samething. Why ? lack of communication and in some cases lack of vision and understanding of the real problem. Which is what I am always saying about the government

Eroding things

2007-03-05T13:11:00.000Z

They say times change and people should change with them but at what cost? Should we allow ourselves to be dictated to by any government that slowly erodes away our freedom of choice. It seems to me that although this government is intent on modernising Britain, it has forgotten the fundamental rights of it's voters and that is to have a say on the policies that are now being put forward. The one thing that I have never seen is a letter from any party asking me whether i agree with any government proposal. we base our society on freeedom of speech yet that seems to be getting so limited. Are we a country that is as progressive as we think? it's a question we should ask ourselves because as one government becomes old and outdated a new one always has other ideas. I ask myself what has this government done for me or come to it wat have they done for anyone? Have they their own social agenda to build from and is this why they see everyone in the same light?
We all have certain goals to reach in life but its the law of human nature that some will neeed much more help than others. This is what any government should look at. It's like the actual level poverty in this country. We know it exists but to what extent? Did you know that around 1,000,000 children only have one main meal a day and these are the people that are mostly on benefit or low income. Did you know that many people on benefit have to go without for a least one day. These are the things we dont hear about from any government. We hear about tax credits We hear about child benefit We hear about welfare benefits going up but what we dont hear about is that any increase is also met by much higher rising costs and the true figure of poverty suffered by people in THIS country. Has anything really changed? I dont think so

2007-02-26T14:04:00.000Z

There but for the grace of God go I. It's funny but I've heard these words a few times this week as me and a few friends have seen homeless people asleep in shop doorways. I feel that sometimes it's only by the smallest margin that some of us do not end up on the streets living a life constantly trying survive. It's funny really because most of us struggle at it but we manage to avoid the pitfalls. We live life as it comes and we all know that life has its ups and downs but when you have more days down than normal it gets to you and when they turn into years, life becomes meaningless, a life of no hope. How do you give people back that which they have lost? I am always being told that life always goes in the blink of an eye or life is far too short to make mistakes but somehow we make them and I think what makes us unique is our ability to learn from them given the chance. I'm getting on a bit in years now and I keep hearing the phrase you can't teach an old dog new tricks. What aloud of b--lsh-t. I don't know where people get these saying from but if you think about it, it doesn't make much sense because we keep saying we learn something new everyday and by the way a leopard does change its spots.

I am still around

2007-02-26T12:36:00.000Z

Just thought I'd let you all know I was still alive and kicking, as you probably know over the last few years I have been doing different things but who would have thought that I would have been doing three reports on empty homes for radio 4. Which I will be putting on the blog as soon as I get a recording of all three.
What surprises even me is how far I have come since those days of sleeping rough on the streets of London without much hope of a future. Learning to read and write was a gift but it's not all about my having that ability although it does help a lot. It's about me suddenly finding out that I am not as stupid or useless as I had been told for most of my life and that I could beat a drug habit that had taken over the whole of my life. The Question that haunts me is, how things got so bad without me seeing it? Common sense would tell you things were out of control but I guess when you do the same things day after day, that way of life also becomes a habit. I suppose it's a bit like leaving the washing up till the next day but when the next day arrives you leave that as well until it piles up so high it crashes. You might think it's just shear laziness but actually it's an old habit. I used to think that everyday was going to be no different that yesterday but in fact everyday is different even if we don't sometimes feel as if it is. I still think life is strange but not as strange if you do not live it to its fullest..

2007-02-15T17:27:00.000Z

I was just thinking about the smoking ban that comes into effect later this year and boy am I going to be in trouble. Sometimes the smoke from my house can be seen for miles as I burn things when I am cooking and to console myself I always sit down and light up a fag. Now the ban does say smoking in a public places. So when the smoke from my house drifts into the near by pub and someone notices me smoking. Am I going to get an on the spot fine? The trouble with this new ban on smoking I think is that most people that do smoke have a habit and we all know getting rid of a habit can be murder. What I find strange or maybe no one has thought about this is, if by allowing people to smoke in their own homes there is much more of a chance for sons, daughters whole families to become passive smokers are the government saying it's ok to give your family cancer. We are always on about greener climates allowing people to smoke outside. To me it seems the government are saying it's ok to pollute our air. Comings from me that's saying something as I am a smoker myself.

Empty homes

2007-02-06T12:43:00.000Z

Well, I'm at it again interviewing people for the radio four program you and yours. I have been to different places to find out why public properties are not being used and left to rot or why aren't some properties being put back into public use when they can be. Things seem to be confusing. I went to wells in Norfolk to find out why a police station and two adjoining houses where not being used and ended up finding out about a police funding shortage as well. In a place called Goole there where 117 houses earmarked for demolish by east riding council. Which where in fact in better condition than the flat I live in right at this present moment. What was even more strange was that only an estimated thirty houses where going to be built in their place and I went to London's north circular to find out why some houses have been empty for thirty years.
We seem to live in society that says we must modernize we must replace old with new but it just seems to me when we have a housing shortage not just in Goole or London but all over the country that common sense has been totally thrown out of the window. Not everything I suspect is as it seems but wouldn't it be great for people and local government to come together and say look we need housing and here we have it. We don't need to build so many more houses on green belt land. The question I ask is it the fault of the Labour movement and their plans to modernize Britain and build a better future as they keep saying? What I'm saying is the government is elected by the people for the people. They should take notice that not everything they do and say is right for the people. A large number of politicians have come from the same background as their electors and are now in the privileged position to help the people of this country but common sense has to prevail. It's natural for people to want better things but it has to be a balanced. I truly believe this government has not achieved much in the last four years in fact I think it has made the poor poorer. The less fortunate less fortunate. A lot of people had faith in this government but that has flown out of the window because of some of the policies and decisions it has made. I am not a fan of this government and I used to be but if this government keeps on putting economics before the peoples needs. Then we will be in for more rough years. I know getting the economics of the country is the right thing to do but when you see house prices rising, electric rising, water rising. petrol rising to unbelievable prices. Then you have to start thinking that something is wrong. When the ordinary man in the street doesn't see any light at the end of the tunnel and has to work extra shift to make ends meet, then we live in a false economy. Building new houses doesn't build a better Britain. It just paints a pretty picture. It's people that make places better.

You're homeless you're not the same as us. Rant

2007-02-01T15:49:00.000Z

Being homeless isn't a crime but what's happening to homeless people is. How would you feel if you had to live life on the streets and being looked down upon everyday because of one mistake or it was the only alternative for you in the situation you where in. I get very angry when I hear people say homeless people are stupid and it's their own fault or they're not like you and me. Last night I went out and about the centre of London to see if the situation had gotten any worse since my last foray. It does seem there are a few more living on the street but only in certain areas of Londons West End. In Westminster the situation seems as bad as ever. While many homeless charities focus on the need to re-educate people on the simple things of life like learning read and write and how to cook. There are a certain number of people we seem to be missing and those are the ones that are too ashamed to say I need help either because they can't read or write or because of their unsureness to learn new things. Having a time table to learn also doesn't fit with the homeless that sleep rough after all their first Priority is surviving another day. Not how do I learn to cook a cake or spell the word cat. I know there are a few day centers that now have the facilities to teach people these things in the mornings but if your homeless and tired all you want to do is have a hot drink and some food and try to get some sleep while you are in the warm. Even if that means every so often you are woken up. So you see the dilemma homeless people face. It's just like being in an endless ring until someone comes up with another solution to the problem then some people will always lose out. What I would like to see is a sort of signed agreement between homeless people and who ever, lets say a night shelter. They would accommodate them if they learnt the basics skills. So many homeless organizations are trying to do this with the homeless they have gotten off the streets and we only have a few that see homelessness everyday of the week. I strongly believe that everyone has the right to be treated equally whether you are homeless or in a hostel and everyone should have the right to learn. So back to the people that think homelessness is their own fault and they aren't the same as you or I. Well that's tosh. Everyday I speak to people who I would have thought would not have the time of day for me but if they don't see any difference between myself and them why should other people ? Just because someone is a bit shabbily dressed has a can in his hand and is homeless doesn't make him any different from you or I. It's just someone who has a problem or why should we demonise a girl living rough when all she did was get away from the abuse she suffered. When I was a kid I was always told that before I opened my mouth to speak I should think about what I was going to say and for all of the people that speak before their brains work. Try thinking first.

Empty homes

2007-01-26T12:28:00.000Z

This week has been one of those weeks when things just don't seem to add up. I have been to different parts of the country interviewing people for BBC radio four, trying to find out why so many properties have been either left to rot or empty, who owns them and why the hell are the government and local authorities are saying build more houses. Were these cases of just bad management or building just for the sake of it or just a waste. I spoken to people from wells next the sea in Norfolk about a police station and a couple of houses that were no longer in use and why nothing was being done. I also interviewed the Norfolk police administrator about them. He was saying they were still in use and they were not a housing concern but they were in the business of policing. The fact that initially the police receive their monies from the tax payer is of little concern to the police and if you look at it logically the tax payer actually owns the property. If they did say alright we will build 20 houses here but two must be for our officers wouldn't that be bridging the widening gap between the police and the public. My second stop was in a town called Goole near Doncaster it was a small industrial town that has grown in the last few years and now faces a housing shortage like as lot of places in this country. When I stood looking at these perfectly good houses I was left speechless as these where perfectly good homes that just needed to be refurbished. When I asked locals about these properties I was told that the local east riding council had made this plan for demolishion some years ago and things have dramatically changed in the area. Developer from the area said he could refurbish these properties and turn them into two and three bedroomed houses and have double glazing, central heating and he would be able to sell them for a small profit. So what's the problem the problem is that the authority is not listening to the people of Goole

Oh brother

2007-01-18T12:48:00.000Z

Would you believe it? If you hadn't read all the hula baloo in the news papers about big brother and the racial tensions that has been stirred up by what I personally think is a clash of cultures. The sniping that's going on is just the tip of the ice berg. Is it a clash of personalities or just plain ignorance. Can you imagine if we had all the previous prime ministers in the house I wonder would everything be politically correct? It does seem that in today's society we do put ourselves into little groups of people. Take homeless people for example they form their own groups. The same can be said for others and this is what I see happening in the big brother house let me in there I will sort it out.

Smack of double standards

2007-01-09T10:50:00.000Z

When we hear that a minister like Ruth Kelly is putting her son in to a private special school it makes me wonder if there are double standards now at work in the government. Is she admitting that the education system doesn't work or is it the fact that going through the state system takes too long as it has been proved. An education body has already said its no good. When this government tell us that our state education system is as good as any, then puts their own kids into public schools. It smacks of double standards. I was on the bus today and as per usual I was ear wigging on a conversation and one of the things that was said was that before she became a minister she would have had to go through the state school system but if memory serves me she was the education secretary that closed over 100 special needs schools because she said they were not working and the system she put in place made has made it much harder for special needs children to get places. Ironic don't you think? Today she stands side by side with Tony Blair who apparently backs her decision. Me, I agree that she has to be a mother first before a politician. This another thing that won't just disappear over night for her